Chapter 20: A Princely Party

Upon returning to Galra, Lotor and Sakura quickly met up with Haggar, somewhat eager to find out just what happened with Pidge and the Gorgon. Haggar, for her part, arrived slightly after them due to having waited until a recall signal was sent out from Lotor's command ship, and was looking more than a little anxious at their upset faces as she approached.

"I take it things didn't end well. Again," she commented.

"No, really? Tell me, witch, what gave that away?" Lotor glared.

"What...happened?" Sakura growled slowly. From his usual perch on Sakura's shoulder, Spinner watched and listened, just as curious as the others.

"Well. . .," Haggar said, then went into a quick recitation of her encounter with Pidge and the Gorgon, and at the end Lotor was rubbing the back of his head, grumbling in annoyance, while Sakura was staring at her with wide eyes filled with shock.

"HE SHOT AT YOU?!" she screamed. "MY PIDGEY SHOT AT YOU?!" On her shoulder, Spinner's eyes widened from the shock of her sudden volume increase.

"Yes. Multiple times, I'm afraid," Haggar reconfirmed. "I felt there was little other option than tactical retreat."

"Boy has tenacity, have to give him that much," Lotor gritted his teeth. "Are you still going to. . ."

"Of course I am!" Sakura snapped at him. "Pidgey is mine, and don't think for a second he won't be properly punished for this!" In truth, Sakura's mind was in actual turmoil for the first time she could remember outside of Yurak's passing and her mixed reactions to Bandor's attempts at courting and his later appeals to her. On the one hand, she knew she still wanted Pidge for herself, but on the other he had shot at Mama Haggar. He shot at her! With, from the sounds of it, every intention of killing her! Could she really justify keeping him after that? She looked away from Lotor and Haggar as she pondered this seemingly unanswerable question when, of all people, Mogor came up.

"Prince Lotor, witches," he saluted. "King Zarkon wants a report immediately on the last engagement."

"Of course he does," Lotor grimaced, then sighed. "Come on, ladies, let's get this over with."

"I think this is my cue to go," Spinner commented lightly, lifting off of Sakura's shoulder to depart.

"Actually, he wants to see you, too, Spinner," Mogor commented, the familiar halting in midair. He glanced at his mistress desperately. Sakura simply reached up and grabbed him by the tail.

"Let's just go," she said. With that, Lotor led the way to the throne room, entering first. Haggar and Sakura followed, and Mogor waited by the door. The three of them reached the stairs and kneeled quickly at the base, Spinner planting himself face down on the floor. Above them on the throne, Zarkon was already snarling.

"Given how you're acting, I'm guessing the second robeast didn't help, did it?" the King asked.

"I'm afraid not, father," Lotor replied.

"Fine, then. From the top, and don't leave anything out," Zarkon growled. "What happened?"

At the Castle of Lions, the Force was recuperating, Pidge having been filled in on what exactly malfunctioned in his lion to cause his unscheduled ejection. Pidge had also filled the others in what all had happened while he was with Anga in the cave she had retreated to.

"A pity you didn't actually hit Haggar with one of your shots," Allura commented. "Then we probably wouldn't have to worry about her anymore, and I can only imagine her apprentice isn't nearly as good at her craft as her master, at least not yet."

"On the other hand, given how pissed you said she was after we took out Yurak, I'm not sure I'd want to see Sakura after we eliminated Haggar," Lance said. "Somehow I can only see that making her a thousand times worse than she already is."

"If only we could get her to see reason, and become a good girl instead of a bad one," Gertrude, entering with a cart of refreshments, bemoaned. "Then we could have a magic user on our side for a change."

"That would be nice, but don't bet on that happening anytime soon," Keith stated. "Considering her behavior on Pollux and Russel, I doubt any amount of reason will ever get through to her. Not with whatever Haggar and the rest have drilled into her head." Gertrude looked at him with a sadness in her eyes.

"Surely there must be some hope left for her, though, right?" she asked. "She's only a child. She can't possibly have chosen this path on her own."

"A child who concocted and hit us with a flurry of poisoned flowers without any instruction from Lotor or her master," Lance pointed out. "However she may have gotten on this path, she's on it now, and she's long past the point of no return."

"So, what happened to your green friend?" Hunk decided to change the subject.

"She's down in medical, recovering," Pidge answered. "The wound was pretty bad, but since the old witch wanted us alive, me for we all know why and her most likely to be re-brainwashed into a heartless killer, it wasn't nearly as bad as it possibly could have been. Though making that run with me on her back didn't do Anga any favors."

"Do we know what we're going to do with her after she's well again?" Gertrude asked, happy to talk about something more hopeful.

"Coran and I tried to find out from her where she originally came from, but apparently her people didn't have a name for her world yet," Allura stated. "Worse, she says her people all died from 'sickness' not long before she was caught by Lotor and his goons. Since she doesn't really have anything to go back to, I offered her a place here in the castle."

"Well, at least the poor thing, no, the poor lady will have a home," Gertrude felt herself cheer up a little.

"Just two tiny catches," Pidge rubbed the back of his head. "She insists on 'looking out' for me and helicopter mommy-ing me."

"Ah, how sweet, Pidge has a new mommy," Lance teased.

"And she has no concept of clothing," Pidge continued, everyone staring wide eyed at this one.

"What?" Allura and Gertrude asked, sure they'd heard him wrong.

"When I went to see her in my normal civvies, she was totally confused," Pidge explained. "I tried to explain that I'd just changed clothes, but she didn't understand, even after I lifted my shirt up to try and show her. In fact she questioned why we bothered with clothes at all."

"Dignity, mostly," Keith and Allura chimed together.

"So, she's just gonna run around...naked?" Hunk asked.

"Probably," Pidge sighed. The others just sat and stared a little, absorbing the idea.

"So, not only did a robeast go rogue, but its 'captive' almost killed my favorite witch, and then still managed to somehow get back to his fellow meddlers in time to unleash Voltron on the Missile-Beast. Is that about correct, Lotor? Old witch?" Zarkon asked, an unexploded rage simmering towards boil in his voice.

"Yes, father," Lotor confirmed. "I'm afraid so."

"My humblest apologies, majesty," Haggar stated.

"And what of you, little witch? Do you have anything to add?" Zarkon turned his gaze upon Sakura.

"No, Sire," she replied meekly. "Nothing." Zarkon eyed them all carefully. He glanced at the familiar, still face down on the floor, trembling in fear of him. Zarkon took a brief second's amusement from this, especially as he considered what Spinner could actually do if off his leash.

"How about you, fly cat? Anything to say?" he sneered, already expecting the response.

"No, your majesty, it's as the Prince and Haggar said," Spinner said, a terrified shudder in his voice. Zarkon glared at all of them a moment longer before posing his next question.

"And what is your next plan to best the obnoxious Voltron? Or do you intend to finally give up and surrender Arus to that defiant Voltron Force and their allies?" Zarkon demanded. Lotor slumped slightly, and Sakura began to sweat and shudder at the same time.

"At this point, father, I have no new plans, or even ideas for one," Lotor glumly admitted. "Though I do not intend to give up, not hardly."

"I don't have any new ideas, either, my King," Sakura admitted. "I suppose we could try to retake Mura and reclaim the cannon..."

"I have people working out various scenarios for that already, little witch," Zarkon stated. "But it's a back burner project for now. Anything else?" Sakura lowered her eyes.

"No, sire," she said. Zarkon then turned his attention on Haggar, who had not spoken yet.

"And you, old witch? Do you have any new plans?" he growled.

"As a matter of fact," Haggar smiled, "I have a few. One is a research project I've had running for many years that is finally starting to show a glimmer of achieving results. More presently I have been looking into a complete alteration of strategy, and have been prepping an experiment for a little while. I will require a few more days, a little over a week at most, to complete it."

"Really?" Zarkon arched his eye. "And what, pray tell, did you have in mind?"

"Let's call it an overhaul on how we're producing robeasts to conquer Voltron," she replied. "A new approach I've been looking into and working on ever since Avok ultimately failed on Pollux."

"What are you scheming, Haggar?" Zarkon asked. "And it better not be a surprise."

"Not a surprise, sire," Haggar reassured him. "I merely wish to complete the first attempt to see if the concept is viable before revealing it." Zarkon thought it over for a bit, then nodded.

"Very well, you may proceed," he decided. "And you two better come up with something new to try against Voltron by the time she has whatever she's cooking up ready, if either of you still expect to be living in this castle anywhere that isn't the deepest, darkest dungeon!" With that he waved them away in dismissal, and Sakura and Spinner were only too glad to go.

"So, what do you think she's planning?" Spinner asked as they approached the door to their rooms. "How exactly would you 'overhaul' robeast production?"

"Not sure," Sakura replied, reaching for the doorknob. "But hopefully it'll be something that can actually help us make some progress for a change." They entered the room, and found Naoko scrubbing away at one of the tables and, to their surprise, humming to herself. "What has you in a musical mood?" Sakura asked, causing Naoko to give a slight jump before turning to her mistress.

"Sorry, just been really quiet lately, and my mind wandered a little while I was cleaning," Naoko quickly explained, hoping to avoid any punishments or "lessons". "Just something I learned while in the mines, I promise." Sakura was unconvinced, but for the moment she had other problems to contend with that were far more important than a humming slave. Closing the door behind her and setting her staff aside, she waved the slave off back to her work and went to the filing cabinet and pulled her and Haggar's after battle reports to do with the Arus Conflict, then went to sit at her table. Spinner flew over to his recliner and sat, watching his mistress quietly. Off to the side, Cova was snoozing away on the end table, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings.

The reports covered every engagement with Voltron since those first fateful battles when the lions had been roused from their long slumber up to the recent attempt with Bullbar. As she glanced at the first ones, Sakura felt a small twinge – those first battles seemed like a lifetime ago now. But that was beside the point, she reminded herself. This was just a quick review of the tactics that they'd used up 'til now. Sakura spent the next several minutes going over the many different attempts they'd tried: infiltration in three variations, disposing of one of the pilots once, attempting to team with others on one occasion (the Pollux Fiasco), her flowers, her rats, her ideas with the ancient castle and blood rain, Haggar's white lion trick, Lotor's lasso beast and bridge kidnapping plot, the attempted siege of the Castle of Lions with the mobile fortress, invisibility once, three straight up assaults, and Yurak's last stand.

There were also the "spur of the moment" incidents: the two robeasts thrown at Voltron to buy them time to escape Jarre on Zarkon's birthday, the tree monster when they were gathering berries for Zarkon's curative potion, Romelle's attempted escape, the unexpected attack on Mura, and the impromptu trip to and battle on the lost planet Balto.

And now, of course, the gorgon and her last-second replacement. They'd gone through several options and a few permutations. And where were they now? Arus as stubbornly refusing to surrender as ever, Jarre and Lyra having thrown them off, and their robeast soldiers unpleasantly depleted. Sakura held her forehead as she rested her elbow and other arm on the table, her eyes closed and her mind desperately trying to come up with something new they hadn't tried yet, anything that could at least waylay Zarkon's temper for a while, but few things were coming to mind.

"Maybe more rats? Or maybe something nastier?" she muttered to herself. "Maybe hit the surrounding countryside with something as well as the castle like I did with the flowers, maybe?" Naoko glanced at her mistress, a sly smile forming on her face as she listened to Sakura's mutterings. She carefully and quietly slipped up behind Sakura, and carefully leaned in.

"Maybe surrender all the slaves to Arus as a peace offering and just forget about them, maybe?" Naoko whispered to her with one hand held beside her mouth. Sakura's eyes popped open, and she raised her other hand from the table and pointed her finger at Naoko over her shoulder, a small energy blast knocking Naoko away. The blast had little strength to it, and Naoko kept herself upright, but it did sting like a bitch, resulting in the young girl giving a light yelp.

"No," Sakura said, not even looking at her slave.

"Sorry," Naoko smiled nervously, clutching her broom. "Couldn't help myself."

"Clearly," Sakura replied, still not looking at her. "Get back to work."

"Yes, ma'am, right away," Naoko nodded rapidly, then resumed her cleaning while Sakura dropped her arm back to the table and resumed her musings, coming up with little to nothing. A couple of hours later Haggar came in, looking quite pleased with herself. She then stopped as she noted Sakura sitting at the table, a look of sheer frustration starting to fill her youthful face. She glanced at the table's contents immediately in front of her apprentice, and her right eye opened slightly more than the left.

"Having trouble, dear?" she asked calmly.

"Nothing," Sakura muttered, almost despondent. "I have nothing." Haggar stepped over to her student, a look of mild sympathy on her face. She sat down on a stool beside Sakura, setting her staff down against the table.

"No new ideas for attacking Arus presenting themselves for consideration, dearie?" she asked. Sakura was sufficiently lost in her doldrum that she didn't even look over at Haggar.

"I'm doomed," she said, and Haggar laid a hand upon her left shoulder, finally causing her to jerk up and turn around to her master.

"I'm thinking a small vacation may be in order, to clear your wonderfully wicked head," the elder witch stated, and Sakura just stared at her for a moment.

"Vacation? Now?" she asked, incredulous.

"Well, seeing as the current situation with Arus is at a standstill..." Haggar said.

"Zarkon will kill me!" Sakura grabbed Haggar by her robes, staring her mentor in the eyes, the younger witch's own eyes attempting to reach saucer size. Behind them, Naoko, who was now busing sweeping the floor, stopped, her head bobbing up then slightly turning toward them enough for one eye to see the two.

"Actually, I believe his threat was to lock you and Lotor in the deepest, darkest dungeon if you didn't come up with a new idea," Haggar replied calmly. "I also seem to recall him giving a time limit of, let's see, oh, yes, when my current project is complete. And as that's going to require about five or six days at the earliest, I believe that gives us just enough time for a fast holiday to unwind ourselves, yes?" Sakura just stared at Haggar for a moment, processing the elder witch's statement in silence. After a few seconds, the enormity of the silence in the room dawned on her and she snapped her left hand up and pointed at Naoko.

"YOU ARE NOT SWEEPING!" Sakura snapped at her without even turning to look, and Naoko gave her second jump of the afternoon, snapping her head away from the witches.

"YES, MA'AM!" she cried, and immediately started sweeping again. A moment later a small yowl emitted from Cova, who had stirred during all the ruckus.

"And where would we take this impromptu, under-a-week-long, holiday/vacation at?" Spinner asked, remaining surprisingly calm.

"Well, let me think," Haggar stroked her chin with her finger as Sakura sat back and crossed her arms. "There are a few good vacation planets available to us, though we'll want to keep semi close, obviously. Which, let's see, I think that narrows it down to..."

"How about Walbrane?" Lotor's voice cut in, causing them to turn to the door to see him standing there. "I think the leisure spa in Tyrus would do us a world of good right now."

"Can't think of any new plans for Arus, either?" Sakura asked, already sure of his answer.

"Went over our remaining inventory of robeasts and other combat options," Lotor stated. "I hate to say it, but it feels like we're hitting the bottom of the proverbial casket. So a quick vacation to clear our heads sounds like exactly what we need right now."

"Ooh, that sounds wonderful!" Haggar clasped her hands in approval. "I don't think I've been there in ages! Shall we make reservations, or just drop in unannounced?"

"My first thought would be unannounced, but reservations with special instructions has benefits, too," Lotor replied. Sakura listened quietly to all this, her eyes batting back and forth between them.

"So, this spa is that good, then?" she asked, trying to reenter the conversation.

"Sakura, my friend, just wait until you experience the Crimson Bloodwater Baths," Lotor smiled. "You'll feel like a whole new witch!"

"Really?" Sakura rubbed her chin in interest, now intrigued.

"Let's do reservations," Lotor said, turning back to Haggar. "It would be better to have a pre-planned itinerary, considering our available timetable." Lotor then noticed their slave was watching him rather intensely, her face scared like she thought he was gonna pounce on her at any moment. "Were you about to punish her for something?" he asked. Sakura blinked as she, Spinner, and Haggar turned their own attention toward Naoko, who now looked close to full panic.

"What's your problem?" Sakura asked, feeling surprisingly curious.

"I...i...is he...gonna...take me?" Naoko stammered out, her eyes now locked onto Lotor.

"Take you where?" he asked, now mildly curious himself.

"Y...y...you...you're...h...h..harem," Naoko seemed to be stuck in stutter mode.

"What?" Sakura stared, Spinner and Haggar looking equally flummoxed. Lotor only stared at this for a moment before cracking into a laugh.

"Maybe in four or five years when you're more womanly," he waved his hand dismissively. "And providing you're remotely attractive or even alive or someone else hasn't stolen you from Sakura first."

"Y...you...don't want me...groomed for you?" Naoko seemed to be calming down quickly, but her latest question was hardly unnoticed.

"Groomed?!" Sakura asked.

"Where did you get that idea?" Lotor queried, one eye raising slightly.

"The Keepers, they said that you...with girls you desired...," Naoko explained clumsily.

"Did they now?" Lotor smirked, then gave an amused huff. "I'll need to have a word with them later about who they tease." He then turned back to the witches. "I'll go make those reservations, then."

"Yes, do," Haggar replied. "I have some work to attend to here, and I think my darling of darkness should maybe set aside trying to plan against Arus and start studying the Marvolo Incantatum I assigned last week."

"Oh, yeah," Sakura glanced at a book sitting on the table to her right. "That thing..." Lotor let out a quick chuckle as he turned and left the room. Haggar rose and moved to her desk. Cova proceeded to doze back off, and Spinner opted to hide himself once more in a book. Naoko took a few deep breaths to finish calming herself, then returned to her labor.

While the slave's very first ever face-to-face encounter with the Prince of Galra wasn't as terrible as she feared it would be, it was at the same time more frightening than she ever could have imagined.

On Arus, the next two days passed relatively quietly, though all remained on alert. Anga recovered to the point that she was released from the medical wing, and Allura and Gertrude presented her with her own private room in the castle, and showed her where to go for food and drink, and how to use their modern bathrooms. Thankfully, Anga seemed to understand everything, but got upset when she was told Pidge wouldn't be staying in the room with her but in his own room.

"In our society people are allowed their own personal space to themselves, Anga. Do you understand this?" Gertrude explained, she hoped as simply as she needed to. Anga had a look on her face of one who was pondering things, at least that's how the two women thought she looked. Her lack of a discernible nose made it slightly difficult to read her expressions.

"Pidge, his room is close to mine?" Anga asked.

"I believe it's just a couple of halls away, Anga," Allura replied. "For now, though, you need to take care of yourself, focus on giving your wound time to heal. Don't worry, I'll make sure Pidge comes around regularly to see you."

"Come, Princess, we need to get going," Gertrude said, then gave Anga a quick nod. "Take care, Anga."

"What is princess?" Anga asked, curious.

"It's my title," Allura explained. "It means I'm the one in charge here, the ruler."

"In charge? You are leader of tribe?" Anga stared, they were almost certain in surprise. "But siraches only watch the young, raches are leaders."

"In our society women, siraches, are able to have as much right to lead as a man, as a rache," Allura told her, which made Anga's eyes widen quiet a bit.

"Really?" she asked.

"Really," Allura assured her. "Now go and rest, and we'll try to explain more later. Like Gertrude said, we have to go now, there are things to do." Anga nodded, and quietly went into her new room, Allura and Gertrude sighing in relief before heading on their way to the next chore on the day's to do list.

Fortunately, in the time that followed, Anga seemed to be adapting to her new home quite well, though as predicted she held little interest in donning clothing, perfectly comfortable coming and going as she was. And, as Pidge said, she spent a good portion of her time trying to helicopter parent him, which left him more than a little annoyed, though he tried to take it in stride. At Allura's suggestion, he also tried to teach Anga how to read and write, to give her other ways to pass the time. This, however, proved mildly difficult as certain differences in language and social concepts had Anga somewhat straining. To her credit, though, she chose not to give up on it, intent on mastering these new skills offered to her.

It took only a half an hour for Lotor to make the reservations, and they were set to leave three days later for their impromptu holiday. During those days Sakura spent her time switching back and forth between trying to come up with a new plan for Arus, and "skimming" the Marvolo Incantatum she was supposed to be studying. Then the day came and they packed and boarded Lotor's command ship and flew to planet Walbrane, landing at a private spaceport in the city of Tyrus.

Upon disembarking, they were met by a planetary greeter, a tall, well built human man with dark brown skin Sakura would have wagered was in his late twenties to early thirties. The man walked up to them and gave a quick bow.

"Prince Lotor, Witch Haggar, Witch Sakura, welcome to Tyrus," he stated. "King Zeta sends his most gracious greetings, and we all hope you enjoy your stay here with us. As per your reservation instructions, special spa treatments have been prepared. Also, his highness noted that you mentioned upon the reservations that your most royal birthday is tomorrow, Prince Lotor, and has set preparations for a proper celebration."

"Wait, Lotor's birthday?" Sakura blinked, before recalling that, indeed, their birthdays were relatively close together.

"Damn it, man, you ruined the surprise," Lotor said to the greeter, ire in his voice, though surprisingly without growling.

"My apologies, your majesty, I was unaware the witches were not meant to know about that," the greeter apologized. Lotor simply waved him off.

"Forget it," he said. "Doesn't really matter. Show us to our lodgings for this weekend, if you would."

"Right this way, sir," the greeter said, straightened up, and began walking away, Lotor, Sakura, and Haggar following him. He lead them out of the spaceport where a private transport awaited them. They boarded it and it carried them to the local main castle. As they traveled the few short blocks, Sakura glanced out the window at the people and architecture around her. The architecture looked to err on building into the the various mountains and plateaus filling the area, effectively transforming them into skyscrapers of a sort. More notable, to her at least, was the fact that none of the people she saw were Galran. They were all human, moving about as though they served no one, as if they were as free as she herself was.

"Uh, where are all the Galran masters?" she asked aloud. "I don't see any."

"And you won't, my darling," Haggar replied, drawing Sakura's attention to her. "Walbrane is unique within our empire in that it is populated solely by humans, Galrans only come as tourists. The people here served Zarkon so well that he saw fit to reward them with semi autonomy. It doesn't hurt that we also tend to use the place as a way station for cargo ships traveling to and fro across the empire, leading it's economy to becoming superbly healthy, leaving them little reason to sever ties with us."

"I see," Sakura glanced back out the window. It would seem that this would be a notably different experience. A few minutes later they arrived at the main Tyrus Spa Resort, which was built into a large mountain with two large spires jutting out of the sides. Also, black tentacle like metal tubes seemed to be woven into and around the place like metal veins, which complemented the giant black edifice which sat atop the building shaped like a skull with razor teeth and empty eye sockets. The back of the skull was elongated into an odd, distinctly non-humanoid shape, almost like a banana. They disembarked the carriage and went inside.

Within, they were escorted to their guest rooms, and after stowing their luggage were led to various areas for their first day's treatments. Sakura found herself pampered in a way she hadn't before, and found she quite enjoyed it. Whilst enjoying a steam bath shortly before dinner, Sakura found herself in the company of two other girls about her own age, one with slightly darker skin than Sakura and one about the same shade and both with brown hair and dark brown eyes. They initially didn't pay attention to her, and she chose to ignore them as well, until one of them noticed her while she was sitting quietly.

"Who's that girl?" the first one asked, drawing the second's attention to Sakura.

"I don't know," the second, the one with slightly darker skin, replied. "Never seen her before. Did some low born rat sneak in here?"

"I thought the guards were supposed to prevent that from happening," the first commented.

"I didn't have to sneak, I came in through the front door," Sakura said, not even raising her voice. "I'm here on holiday."

"Tch, really? Must be an offworlder, then," the first girl stated.

"Yeah, only an offworlder would think she could belong with the likes of us," the second added.

"Important, are you?" Sakura finally glanced in their direction. The second girl gave a sound of agitation before speaking.

"She doesn't even know who she's in the presence of, Pheada. How sad," she stated.

"Indeed, Jurgna," Pheada agreed. "We're the heirs of the King of this planet, it's a privilege just to be in the same room as us."

"Ah, the local Princesses," Sakura said with a slight smirk. "I thought you had abnormal bravado for simple natives."

"How dare you!" Jurgna stood up, Pheada looking just as cross. "Just who do you think you are?!" Just then the attendant stuck in her head.

"My ladies, time for all of you to come out," she announced, and Pheada and Jurgna both headed to the door. Sakura rose, then waved her hand idly, the two snobby Princesses' towels suddenly flying off leaving them utterly exposed. They shrieked and grabbed for the airborne towels as Sakura sauntered past and out into the changing room to dry off and dress, Spinner rising from the bench he'd been lightly napping on while he was waiting for her.

"Done trying to boil yourself are you?" he asked. Sakura just rolled an eye as she finished wiping herself down and reached into the locker she'd used for her clothes, smiling more as she heard the sound of the other two girls as they dashed to another part of the room to the lockers their own clothes had been left in.

Just after noon on the next day, Lotor, Haggar, and Sakura all relaxed together, Lotor getting massaged by three local women, Sakura getting massaged by two boys a couple of years older than her – she suspected Lotor had a hand in their selection for this – while a woman supervised them, and Haggar sat at a table in between them bathing the familiars.

The large chamber they were in was about a hundred meters by a hundred meters and had one door leading in and out, with a large pool about forty feet across near the left side wall filled with red colored water from a wall sculpture, roughly ten feet high and eight feet wide, shaped like the head of a great beast with two large horns, known locally as the Crimson Bloodwater Bath. To the left side of the bath was an eight foot by five foot stone "island" for sitting on. The ceiling was about fifteen meters high. On the wall above the entryway was a large, currently inactive, monitor screen about fifteen feet by ten feet. Next to the bath was an open window about fifteen feet across and twenty-five feet high.

The women who massaged Lotor and the one supervising Sakura's massage wore simple one piece lavender dresses that were sleeveless and shoulder-less, ending just below their rears and whose breast cups resembled metal brasseries. Upon their heads was a tiara affair with the front sporting a tall white triangle with a vertical line of three dots in the middle of it. The boys massaging Sakura were dressed similarly, but without the brassier attachments.

Whilst Haggar was fully dressed in her usual robes, at that moment Lotor and Sakura had only a single towel each draped over their posteriors. Initially, Sakura had felt a little uncertain about being that naked that close to Lotor, but once she was shown their tables were about thirty feet apart with Haggar's table for the cleansing of the familiars right in between them she settled down a bit, and once the massage started any concern was overridden by the surprising bliss she found herself in. The massage was working out knots she didn't even realize were there!

Both she and Lotor lay on their tables face down, Lotor with his arms crossed in front of him and his chin resting upon them while Sakura had her arms stretched out to the side, her own chin laying upon a small rectangular pillow. As she lay there, Sakura's mind suddenly flashed an image of someone in shadows, male from what she could tell, holding a straight short sword and wearing clothes with a distinctly green shine to them. Next to him was a silhouette she'd know anywhere, Spinner's! A prophetic vision? Is Pidgey finally gonna realize where he truly belongs and surrender to me?! Oh, happy day! she thought to herself.

Meanwhile, Haggar soaped up Cova and Spinner, the latter of whom was surprisingly calm about it considering his noted dislike of being soaked in water, then used a ladle of the red bath water to rinse them, the two quickly shaking the fluid off themselves.

"Now isn't that nice, you two?" Haggar asked, almost purring herself. "The waters of the Blood Bath are refreshing and restores your color, and helps you to be mean!" Haggar cackled delightedly. She then turned to her apprentice. "And how are you enjoying yourself, my darling?"

"Mm, this is so relaxing...," Sakura purred, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the activity. "Such bliss." Haggar smiled happily.

"You see, my dearie, nothing like a little getaway to clear the mind and restore your evil energy to full power." Sakura simply hummed in agreement. Just then the door opened and three people entered. Two of them were Pheada and Jurgna, wearing red slipper shoes and matching red dresses with black lining, their sleeves ending just past the shoulders and the bottoms stopping about three inches above their ankles. Their collars were a circular affair that dipped to just above their nascent breasts, and simple silver tiaras sat upon their heads.

The third person was a grown man with graying hair, including his mustache and beard. He wore a short-sleeved red tunic with gold lining over a black, long-sleeved shirt with a white ruffle and a black collar with gold lining around his neck, black pants, and brown boots with gold colored cuffs. A white ascot was attached to the ruffles at the base of his neck with a rose quartz pin. Upon his shoulders sat a purple cape held by gold links that went down to the floor with a large gold bird emblem emblazoned upon the back of it. A pink belt with black lacing and a large pink buckle was wrapped around his waist. And upon his head sat a gold crown with two side spires and a center spire whose top split into two points, a large red gem embedded in the center spire just below the points, and below that another, smaller five-sided pink gem was set in an oval shaped protrusion. Lotor glanced up at the three's entrance.

"Ah, Prince Lotor. How are you feeling? Enjoying the pleasures of our planet, I hope?" the man asked as he began to walk toward Lotor, the two girls keeping pace behind him.

"I am, indeed, King Zeta," Lotor replied. "This has been ideal for easing the fatigue of battle. I'm feeling my best, which means I'm ready to do my worst."

"Your father, King Zarkon, was wise to take this planet for his empire," King Zeta said with a hint of pride in his voice. "It's a wonderful place to relax, and the Blood Bath does wonders to erase one's cares. Please use it any time." King Zeta came to a halt next to Lotor's table, the girls stopping just behind them.

"And who are these blossoming young ladies?" Lotor inquired, giving them a glance. "Yours, I presume?"

"My granddaughters, Pheada and Jurgna," Zeta introduced them, and they politely curtsied in greeting.

"A pleasure to meet you, oh mighty Prince Lotor," they said.

"Likewise," Lotor responded, then turned back to the King. "I'm sure they'll make someone very lucky in the future." The girls laughed happily, each placing a hand over their mouths. Zeta also chuckled.

"Oh, great Prince, you flatter us," Pheada said, turning her head in mock embarrassment, and caught Sakura out of the corner of her eye, drawing her full attention to the still blissed out young witch. "What is that offworlder doing here?" Pheada snarled, causing Jurgna to turn and see Sakura as well, and also take on a displeased look.

"And in the presence of Prince Lotor, no less!" Jurgna agreed, their grandfather glancing over at Sakura himself with only a slight curious hum in his voice.

"Mm?" Sakura finally cracked an eye to see who was talking, immediately recognizing the two annoying local Princesses. "Oh, it's the brat squad again," she commented, the Princesses glaring at her, ready to retort when Lotor cut them off.

"Already met the Princesses, have you, Sakura?" he asked, and the two girls suddenly stiffened at how familiar he was with her.

"Yesterday, in the steam bath," Sakura admitted, closing her eye. "They're a little full of themselves."

"Who do you think you are, addressing the Prince like that?!" Pheada demanded, Sakura finally opening her eyes all the way.

"I'd watch your tongue, there, Princess Pheada," Lotor advised. "Annoying a witch can have unpleasant consequences."

"Witch?" the Princesses stared, horrid realization finally beginning to dawn.

"Ah, so you must be Witch Haggar's prized pupil that I've heard tell about," King Zeta stated. "It is an honor to make your acquaintance."

"Oh, yes," Haggar said, having watched the interchange bemusedly. "Sakura is the rotten apple of my wicked eye!"

"She's a witch?" Jurgna asked quietly, then pointed angrily at Sakura. "The towels yesterday, that was you!"

"Yes," Sakura folded her arms under herself and lifted her head off the table slightly. "A little prank at your expense. You deserved it." The two Princesses growled angrily, unsure what else to say.

"As it happens, Prince Lotor, you may not be in a position to enjoy a leisurely rest for much longer," King Zeta turned back to Lotor. "Your father, King Zarkon, is contacting us to speak to you." No sooner had Zeta finished speaking than the monitor suddenly switched on, an image of Zarkon from the chest up filling it. Everyone's attention was drawn to the screen, Sakura letting out a small yelp as she grabbed her pillow with one hand to use to cover her chest as she used her other hand to push herself a little higher. Zeta bowed before Zarkon, one hand over his heart, while Pheada and Jurgna went back into their curtsy.

"Lotor, what are you doing there! That does not look like making new plans for crushing planet Arus!" Zarkon demanded.

"Forgive me, Father, and pardon my rudeness appearing like this, but between the stress of our recent losses and in lieu of my twenty-sixth birthday, I decided a quick holiday was permissible," Lotor pushed himself up slightly to better see his father on the screen while he explained.

"While it is true that one needs rest for the next day's activities, I fear you are becoming a dawdler and a dimwit, my son," Zarkon stated, and it was all the two little Princesses could do not to start laughing. "But fortunately," the evil King continued, "This works in our favor. I have a task for you to perform while you're there." The screen flipped to an image of a Galra cargo ship in space, a long dark grey tubular craft that had no markings upon it in order to hide its point of origin.

"One of our treasure vessels is heading to Walbrane to deposit a load into the secure storage vaults there, including two chests of recently plundered valuables from planet Clow," Zarkon's voice stated. "Make sure it gets there and makes its delivery safely, Lotor. Also, it's carrying your birthday present, a gold statue of you I had commissioned. Why don't you erect it on that planet if you like." At that the screen switched again to an image of the statue in question surrounded by Imperial Honor Guards.

Solid gold, as advertised, it stood nearly thirty feet high and was mounted on a fifty foot tall steel stand that slightly resembled the main castle on Galra in shape, with four long powerful cables holding it to the deck. The statue had Lotor, in his usual outfit including his helmet and a sword at his hip, posed to appear looming over those who looked upon it. Lotor breathed in awe of the edifice, and Sakura couldn't help but give a whistle of appreciation.

"Now that's something to be thankful for," Lotor said. "I'll protect that ship, Father, I swear it!"

"I should hope so," Zarkon replied as his face finally returned to the screen. "While we're here, have you had any decent ideas about Arus and the Voltron Force?"

"I've actually had a couple of possible ideas, but they'll need time to implement, and appropriate robeasts that, unfortunately at this point, we may not have readily available," Lotor admitted. "When I get back, I intend to do an inventory of what we currently have left."

"Yes, that would be a wise course of action," Zarkon agreed, though there was some reluctance in his voice. He then turned his eyes, much to her discomfort, to Sakura, who had prayed he wouldn't realize she was here. If there was one person she wanted to be almost naked in front of even less than Lotor, it was Zarkon. "And how about you, little witch? Come up with any ideas? Or have you just been pampering yourself?"

"Just clearing the cobwebs, my King," Sakura answered. "I'm sure I'll have thought of something by the time we get back."

"Will you?" Zarkon said. The glare in his eye was unsettling, and Sakura had to take a quick yet deep breath before answering. From where they stood, the two Princesses smiled happily.

"I have been giving the problem serious consideration, my liege," she stated. "I refuse to fail you." Zarkon arched one eye at her, and looked ready to speak, when Haggar spoke up.

"Perhaps you yourself could benefit from a holiday here, Sire?" she suggested, and Zeta and his granddaughters all stiffened instantly. "You have been pushing yourself almost as hard as we have, possibly more so." Zarkon, to Sakura's great relief, finally turned his attention away from her.

"Are you saying I'm not relaxed enough, old witch?" he asked.

"You did have a heart attack not all that long ago, sire," Haggar stated. "I merely worry about your health." Zarkon actually seemed to weigh that one for a moment before responding.

"I'll take it under advisement, Haggar," he said, then glanced over his shoulder for a moment. "It seems your luck is still favoring you. I have to go. Make sure that ship gets to Walbrane safe, you hear me!" he said when he turned back to them.

"Of course," Lotor, Haggar, and Sakura all agreed, and the screen finally, mercifully, turned off. As Zeta and the Princesses stood straightly again, Sakura slumped back onto her massage table.

"And I was really enjoying myself before, too," she muttered.

"Oh, calm down, my friend," Lotor said with a smile. "You'll come up with something terrible enough to throw at those do-gooders in time. I have complete faith in you." Sakura smiled back, grateful for the reassurance, and Pheada and Jurgna scowled in displeasure.

Out in space, the cargo ship moved toward Walbrane steadily, the Captain having received a message that Lotor 's command ship would be coming out to meet it personally to assure its arrival at the planet's capital city. As it entered the Walbrane star system, though, fate turned against them as a meteor storm suddenly swept into them, the electromagnetic stones cutting through their shields as though they weren't there. The Captain would have cussed the navigator out, but the meteors began tearing through the ship itself, and the Captain had only enough time to order a distress signal broadcast before one stone tore open the bridge itself to space.

Meteors hit all across the ship, resulting in multiple explosions throughout it, the rest of the crew quickly following the bridge staff's fate. A few moments later the damaged craft was limping through the meteor heavy zone, knocked severely off course.

On planet Arus, the distress signal reached the Castle of Lions. Coran immediately called Allura and the Voltron Force to the command center while he listened to the SOS closely. The team arrived quickly, and stood just behind Coran while waiting to find out what was going on. Shortly after they got there, Anga, who had been convinced to wear a sundress that day, stepped in, watching them curiously.

"What can you tell us, Coran?" Keith asked. "Do you know who's in trouble?" Coran set down the headphones he'd been listening to the signal with and turned to Keith.

"It was a faint signal and it's growing weaker, but it's definitely a distress call from a ship claiming it was damaged by a meteor storm," Coran replied. "The code is a general one used by many and no identification was given so I can't say for sure who sent it, but it looks to be coming from the Walbrane system."

"Walbrane? Isn't that one of Zarkon's holdings?" Lance asked. "It could be a trap to lure us out and away from Arus."

"Even if we knew it was a trap, we can't just ignore it," Keith decided. "Whoever they might be, we have to go out and offer aid."

"Agreed," Coran nodded. "But exercise extreme caution."

"All right, everyone to their lions," Keith ordered. "Let's go!" Coran rose the dais and they all ran for their transfer tubes in order to head to the lions, but then Anga suddenly pounced forward and grabbed Pidge from behind.

"What the...," Pidge blinked and turned to see her, causing the others to halt and notice their green guest as well.

"You should stay," Anga said. "It could be too dangerous for you."

"But Anga...," Pidge started, only for the Gorgon to stare at him sternly.

"We need him, Anga," Keith stated calmly. "Without all five lions we can't form Voltron, and we don't know if we'll need to or not on this mission. Hopefully not, but better to be properly prepared." Anga looked at him crossly, hesitant to let Pidge go. "It's okay, we fixed the problem that caused him to eject from Green before, it's not gonna happen again," Keith added reassuringly.

"I'll be okay, Anga," Pidge said. "I do this kind of thing all the time. I've been trained for it." Anga still looked unconvinced, so Pidge decided to try another tact. "There could be other kids my age on that ship in need of help, and it might need all five of us to search it properly and quickly in order to find them." At this Anga finally seemed to waiver.

"You promise you be careful, Pidge?" she asked.

"Of course! Scout's honor!" Pidge smiled, then noted Anga's confused look at his phrase. "Coran can explain that one to you while we're out," he suggested while pointing at the older man, who blinked in surprise. Anga stared a moment more, then let Pidge go.

"Okay," she said. "But if it get dangerous, you run away as fast as you can, okay?"

"You got it!" Pidge replied as he finally made it into his transfer tube, Lance, Hunk, and Allura following suit.

"Thanks, Anga," Keith said as he entered his. "We'll keep him safe, I mean it." And with that the team was on their way. Anga then turned to Coran, an expectant look on her face.

"Yes, scouts," Coran cleared his throat.

The lions quickly launched from their hiding places and shot into space. Due to their superior thrust power, they reached the meteor/asteroid field on the far outskirts of the Walbrane system in only a few short hours, quickly navigating through as they searched for the ship. After a few minutes, green lion's scanners picked up a reading, Pidge quickly double checking it.

"Picking up a signal in the north quadrant!" he announced. "Ship sighted at two point seven!"

"Okay, let's go check it out," Keith replied, the five lions turning to head in that direction. A few minutes later they spotted the wreck floating between some of the larger asteroids of the field, and gaped at the size of the craft.

"Whoa, look at the size of her!" Hunk commented. "I don't think I've ever seen a ship this huge before that wasn't meant to be a generation colony ship."

"I wonder who it belongs to," Allura pondered. "I hope the crew's all right."

"I was just trying to scan for life signs," Pidge said. "But the electromagnetic interference from the stones is making it hard to tell if anyone's still alive in there."

"Only one way to find out," Keith said. "I'm picking up a hole in the side of it big enough for the lions to enter. Let's go in and check for survivors."

"Um, did anyone bring spacewalking gear?" Lance asked. "Cause I'm thinking she probably has some atmosphere problems right now."

"Actually, my scanners say the shields are still working and currently doubling as an atmosphere bubble, so we should be okay on that one," Pidge replied. "If we match our own shields vibrations to the ships, we should be able to slip through without disrupting it."

"If there's still air in there, then there's hope for the crew," Hunk stated. With that the lions flew over to the hole in question, and using Pidge's plan managed to enter and land on the deck within. They then departed the lions and began to search. As they exited their landing area and split into two groups heading down separate halls, Keith and Lance going down one and the rest the other, Hunk noted a small interstellar craft sitting not far from where they landed the lions. The craft was a simple white with no identifying markings and didn't look like it could fit more than two or three people at best. Its design felt not unlike a small private luxury shuttle, really, which made it stand out a bit against the more utilitarian feel of the larger craft around them.

As Keith and Lance passed down a hallway, guns at the ready, they began to notice the still emptiness of the ship. They paused for a moment as they passed through a circular door that opened into rotating curved slats, scanning the area ahead

"No sign of anyone," Keith whispered. "Almost like its been deserted."

"No kidding," Lance whispered back. "Where'd the crew go? I mean, I understand some of them getting into life pods, but why send the distress signal if no one was going to be here?" They then continued forward.

The others quickly and quietly dashed down their own hall, their weapons also at the ready, moving around in search of any signs of life. After several minutes, their hall cut into another one, and a few seconds later Keith and Lance came down from the side on their left, the whole group reuniting earlier than expected. They continued down the hall together and came to a large door, a control panel to its side. They paused, and Keith indicated the wall.

"Everyone flatten themselves and be ready," he instructed. They did so while he walked over to the control panel and examined it, finding it to be a simple push button affair, five in total in a straight line from left to right. He smacked the first two buttons from the right and was starting to press the middle one when the door reacted and opened, raising upward, and the team stepped inside carefully. They started to sweep the chamber, only to stop in surprise at what lay within – the golden statue of Lotor.

"Would you look at that," Hunk gasped without thinking.

"L...Lotor," Keith breathed in surprise.

"A solid gold statue of him," Pidge breathed.

"I'm gonna blast him right between the eyes and smash it apart!" Hunk declared, raising his pistol to fire.

"Hold off, Hunk," Keith ordered, and the large man lowered his weapon while looking at his commander.

"What for?" he asked.

"He ticks me off, too, but we have more important things to do," Keith stated. "It's more important to solve the riddle of this ship, and why it has this statue on board to begin with."

"Isn't it obvious, Keith?" Hunk replied. "This thing clearly belongs to Zarkon and the Galrans. It was probably bringing the statue to be erected on one of their slave planets to torment the ones imprisoned there."

"Possibly, but I want more information first," Keith said. Before they could argue it further, from a crack in the wall a short ways away, of all people(so to speak), Platt suddenly came scurrying out, waving in agitation at them.

"Platt? What are you doing here? Did you sneak into my blue lion again?" Allura asked as she held out her free hand for the small blue mouse to hop into as he continued to squeak away. She listened for several moments as the others watched.

"What's he saying, Princess?" Keith asked. "Did he find a piece of cheese?"

"He says he came to help us with the search and rescue, and that he's spotted someone up ahead, with a treasure chest!" Allura said as she looked up at the others.

"Okay, Platt, lead the way," Keith said, and Platt, a pleased look on his face, hopped out of Allura's hand and dashed off down a side hall leading away from the statue chamber, everyone hot on his tiny heels. A few minutes later they reached the smashed-open doors of another chamber, the doors looking as though something had wrenched them open, hard. The doors hung open into the room, bent and partly off the hinges. They slowed down and approached cautiously, realizing they could hear two voices talking in hushed tones. Voices that sounded decidedly on the young side.

"Just force it like you did the doors," the first voice, which sounded female, said, a hint of impatience in it.

"If I did that I'd probably damage whatever's in there, stupid," the other, a male voice, replied. "Just use your eyes, the key's got to be here somewhere."

"And if it isn't?" the first voice asked.

"Then I'll think of something!" the male voice answered, clear annoyance in his tone. The Voltron Force crept up to the broken door, Platt standing at it pointing inside excitedly. They carefully looked through the opening. Within were multiple chests and valuable looking statues, as wells as expensive looking paintings set on the walls, but the real surprise was what was standing in front of the large gold chest set in the center of the room: a boy and girl roughly the same age as Pidge!

"Who are you?" Keith announced their presence, and the two kids snapped around, the girl flipping out an ornate red laser gun and the boy pulling out a black pendant in the middle of a red braided string which hung from a thin loop. Without warning, the pendant suddenly shifted into a hilt from which sprang out a four foot sword. The boy held it out in front of himself while holding his other hand up with his index and middle fingers extended and held together to point at the team, an energy starting to crackle around them.

The girl wore a red short sleeved shirt-dress that was white at the shoulders and had a two inch high neck; it ended a couple of inches below her hips, and had yellow-gold lining along the bottom and top and between the red and white parts, with a yin-yang symbol covering her mid-torso. Beneath the shirt dress she also had on white shorts with similar yellow-gold lining. Around her waist was a white sash belt upon which was the holster for her pistol. She had reddish brown eyes and long black hair that was in two pony tails stemming from a pair of hair buns tied off with red hair ribbons whose ends hung loose. Her feet were covered by simple red slipper shoes with yellow-gold lining around the openings where her feet entered.

The boy had amber eyes and short cut brown hair and had on green slipper shoes that were otherwise the same as the girl's shoes. He wore tight white pants and a short-sleeved green shirt with a two inch neck like the girl's, and a yellow-gold sash belt that had what looked like a small, slumped-over yellow-orange teddy bear held in it. Like the girl's shirt-dress, the boy's green shirt bore an emblem, this one a solid black surrounded by yellow-gold lining and sporting three white "petals" at the top positioned as though to resemble a flame.

"DIE, DOOM SCU...you're not from planet Doom," the girl started to yell, then stopped when she fully saw the team, her eyes blinking in surprise. The boy, who's fingers had stop crackling with energy, also blinked as he looked taken aback. Both relaxed, but only slightly.

"Of course we aren't!" Allura huffed. "We're the good guys, I'll have you know."

"Then what are you doing here?" the boy asked.

"Answering the distress call," Keith replied. "And you didn't answer my question yet. Who are you kids? And while we're at it, what are you doing here?" The two kids glanced at each other for a moment, then boy spoke again.

"I am Prince Syaoran Li, of planet Clow, and this is my cousin, Meilin Li," the boy introduced them, "And we're here to recover stolen treasure from our planet. Now your turn, who are you?" The team blinked for a moment, then Allura holstered her weapon and removed her helmet, smiling kindly at the two.

"I am Princess Allura of planet Arus, and we are the Voltron Force," she declared proudly, before indicating each of the other members of the team in turn, "This is Hunk, Pidge, Lance, and Keith, the commander of the team."

"Voltron Force?!" Meilin's arms dropped, all tension gone. "You mean he's actually real?!"

"Pfft, they're having us on," Syaoran said, his own arms dropping. "Everyone knows Voltron's just a silly legend." Now it was the team's turn to blink in surprise at the boy, who just looked at them sternly. "If he was real, then why haven't you used him to take out planet Doom once and for all?"

"You are aware that Galra, Doom, resides within the Dark Nebula, aren't you?" Allura asked, feeling a little annoyed at the boy's cheek. "The electromagnetic fields in the nebula make the ones here look like malfunctioning lights in comparison. Our best people have determined that even Voltron would be microwaved to the point of exploding if we ever tried to take the fight straight to Zarkon without getting rid of it first."

"And if you have a good idea about how to do that, we're all ears," Keith said.

"Hey, what about the giant interstellar cannon on Mura?" Pidge asked, the idea suddenly striking him full on. "Could it clear a path?"

"Technically, yes," Keith replied. "But Mura's not in the right position for that, right now, and probably won't be for months. The cannon would have to be moved to another, better positioned planet, like Arus itself, before we could, and we don't have anything that could do that." Pidge thought about that, and the sheer size of the canon, and had to agree.

"Just a thought," he admitted. Syaoran, however, looked unconvinced. Meilin, on the other hand, was starry eyed and smiling.

"Can we see him? Please?!" she asked eagerly.

"Well, he's currently split into the lions which are parked in an open bay a ways back," Allura said, indicating the hall they'd come from. "But maybe after we're done here." At that, Syaoran all but jumped.

"Split?! You actually expect us to believe the greatest magical robot ever created was actually broken apart by the three Daiquisties?" he demanded, and the team blinked, again.

"Dai...keys...tees?" Allura asked.

"The three Daiquisties," Syaoran said. "Cosmic level entities that were imprisoned in a mystic cage for millions of years until an evil Techno-Mage Warlord captured Voltron for the purpose of destroying the cage and taking the Daiquisties' power."

"Only he underestimated them," Meilin said, a happy look on her face as she recited the story. "Their powers were too great to be drained, and for his efforts they destroyed the Techno-Mage and shattered Voltron into a dozen pieces and scattered them across the cosmos! Never to be seen . . . again . . ." She said the last part in an overly dramatic tone, waving her free hand in front of her theatrically. She then resumed smiling, adding, "Of course, that's just the end of the story."

"I see," said Allura. "So, you said you were here to retrieve stolen treasure from your planet?" She stepped forward to the two, and the others, as a show of trust, holstered their own weapons for a moment, stepping forward also. Meilin did likewise and, after a moment's hesitation, Syaoran returned his sword to being a pendant on a string that he placed carefully in his pocket.

"Yes," Syaoran said, and indicated the large chest behind him and Meilin. "We think it might be in this one, but we need the key."

"Place is rather crammed with valuables and antiques, isn't it?" Lance commented, glancing around the room.

"It's almost like a pirate ship," Pidge said.

"Out of curiosity, what happened to the door?" Hunk pointed at it with his thumb over his shoulder. "The lack of damage in here kinda belies the idea it happened when the ship got wrecked."

"Syaoran opened them with his magic," Meilin said proudly, and the Force froze in place, the appearance and disappearance of the young Prince's sword suddenly taking on new meaning.

"You mean...he's a boy witch?" Keith asked, and the two kids glared angrily.

"One, boy's are never witches! The correct title for a male dark magic user is 'Warlock'!" Meilin said, her index finger pointed upward.

"And two, I'm not a warlock!" Syaoran snapped indignantly. "I'm a Sorcerer!"

"Our mistake," Lance raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "The only other magic users we've met before you are Zarkon's witches." Now the kids stiffened as they stared in shock.

"You mean that story we heard about the old Doom witch taking a student is TRUE?!" they said in unison.

"Yeah, she's about our age actually," Pidge told them. "And she's also...my stalker."
"Stalker?" Syaoran asked, a drop of sweat sliding down the side of his head. Meilin also just stared a moment while she processed this, then smiled as she waved a hand dismissively.

"Well, at least I can't fault her for taste," she said, her eyes closed. "You are kinda cute. But..." And at this she turned and grabbed Syaoran into a tight hug, looking at Pidge with a bit of a Cheshire grin on her face. "Not as cute my adorable fiance here."

"Meilin!" Syaoran grimaced in clear annoyance.

"Fiance?!" the team blinked in surprise, yet again.

"But didn't you say earlier that you're cousins?" Allura asked.

"So?" Meilin asked.

"Won't that be risky in regards to your...um...future...offspring?" Allura suddenly felt very self conscious about all this.

"Huh?" Meilin blinked.

"There, see?" Syaoran said, a note of desperation in his voice. "Even the Princess of Arus thinks it's a mistake! Now will you give this nonsense up?" Meilin thought for a moment, then tightened her hug.

"NEVER!" she cried out happily. "Syaoran and I are meant to be!" The Voltron Force just watched, not really sure what to say at this point. Just then the squeaking of a mouse could be heard and they all turned to see Platt now standing atop the large gold chest, waving his small forelegs in the air, clearly trying to get their attention.

"What is it, Platt?" Allura asked.

"You talk to mice?" the kids asked. Platt then hopped off the chest and dashed over to a statue, climbing up it to draw their attention to what was hanging on it slumped over – the corpse of a guard. The guard was dressed in a cyan uniform with blue-gray boots, over which was worn a red tunic with white shoulder cuffs and a black v-neck collar with gold-laced lining. A black cape was pinned over his left shoulder with a white tail going down his front, and white gloves covered his hands. Another pin on his right shoulder held two gold-laced ropes that went down to his left hip and connected to a black belt around his waist, to which was hitched a sheath with a sword in it; the sheath, and therefor the sword, were not particularly thick, implying the use and keeping of it was more ceremonial than practical. And the final touch was a metal helmet like that worn by the knights of Medieval Europe topped with a sharp spike on his head, completely obscuring the guard's face.

"Is that a...dead guy?" Meilin asked nervously, and Syaoron looked suddenly a shade paler than before.

"Was he part of the crew?" Hunk wondered.

"No, I've seen images of that uniform before," Keith said. "That's a Galran Imperial Honor Guard."

"Not anymore," Lance commented. Allura carefully stepped around the large central chest and glanced around the other side of the room, while Pidge began glancing around the front area near the door.

"He's not alone," she pointed toward the area, and Keith, Lance, Hunk, Syaoran, and Meilin all stepped around for a look themselves, and quickly felt queasy. There were easily almost a dozen other bodies lying on the floor, some of them slumped over small treasure chests or statues made of precious metals and/or encrusted with jewels. Meilin now looked like she was ready to hyperventilate, and Syaoran was looking as green as his shirt.

"What happened to them?" Meilin whispered.

"From the looks of things, the shock waves from the meteor storm tore through them, tossing them against the walls and floor like rag dolls," Lance said. "And I'm guessing landing on some of this stuff like that didn't do them any favors, either." Allura allowed herself a silent shudder as she glanced around, then stared wide eyed at the far left corner. Sitting there in an effective pile were five more bodies in the Honor Guard uniform, but they were smaller, comparable to Pidge, Meilin, and Syaoran.

"Are those...children?" she asked, pointing them out to the others.

"They put kids on guard duty?" Lance blinked.

"Garrison recruits and trains war orphans as spies, and the fact that the Galrans assign children as guards surprises you?" Allura glanced at Lance, who had the good grace to look sheepish. And then they heard the sound of retching, and turned to see Syaoran standing next to one of the smaller chests near the wall bent over, his head slightly behind the chest. They also noted Meilin starting to take multiple rapid breaths as she continued to look at the group of corpses.

"First time seeing a dead body?" Hunk asked, a note of sympathy in his voice. Meilin gave a nod of her head, and Syaoran did like wise as he started to pull himself up straight again, his face now a little piqued. Hunk stepped over and laid one hand over Meilin's shoulders reassuringly while Keith stepped over to Syaoran and lightly took hold of the boy's shoulder as he smiled warmly.

"Sorry," Syaoran said meekly. "I don't know what got into me."

"Don't worry about it, your Highness," Keith said. "Everyone reacts differently the first time. It'll get easier to see something like this with time."

"It will?" Meilin looked up.

"Easier, kid," Hunk said. "Not necessarily better."

"Hey, look at this!" Pidge's voice cut in, causing everyone to turn and see him walking back toward them, dragging a large gold rod behind him. The end that was still on the floor ended in a crossbar shaped like handles, as though it was meant to be held while the rod was being turned in rotation. The other end, just above where Pidge was holding it, was slightly larger in diameter than the rest and sporting three small pyramidal points along one side. "I think I found a giant key!" Pidge declared. Hunk quickly jogged over to him, getting a closer look at the thing.

"Looks heavy, too, buddy," he said. "Why don't you let me handle it?" Pidge handed the key to Hunk without complaint, who examined it for a moment. "Think it goes to the big chest in the middle of the room?" he asked.

"Probably. See if you can use that to open it up?" Keith suggested.

"Got it," Hunk nodded, and picked the whole thing up, carrying it over to the main chest and lining it up with the large hole that was the chest's lock. He pushed forward carefully and the key head slipped right in.

"Okay, let's see what's in here," Hunk said, taking hold of the handle bars on the bottom end of the key, and then to himself, "Muscles, don't embarrass me." With that, he gave the key a turn to the left, only for it to balk, and then turned it to the right, and heard a satisfying click as the chest unlocked. He pulled the key back out while Pidge and Meilin, the others having come back around to the front of the chest, took hold of the lid and lifted it open. Once the lid was off, they all paused in sheer awe of the contents. Gold coins, jewels, and other riches filled the box up to the brim!

"Whoa, look at all that," Keith breathed.

"Are these the valuables stolen from your planet?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Syaoran answered, then Meilin gave a gasp and thrust a hand in, pulling out a bracelet made out of ruby with a group of sapphires on top in a pattern resembling a crescent moon overlapping a star. And Syaoran picked up a few of the coins for a closer look.

"This is Auntie Heishin's!" she cried. "She told me once she was gonna pass it to me when I was old enough!"

"And these are from Clow, all right! This is definitely ours!" Syaoran clenched his fist while he smiled.

"Is it all of it?" Keith asked. Syaoran and Meilin looked in the chest, thinking.

"I think so," Syaoran said, dropping the coins back in the chest. "I'll have to check the manifest I brought, first." He pulled a hand device out of his pocket and began working on it.

"Between that gold statue of Lotor back there and the ship's cargo in here," Keith thought aloud, "this must be a Galra treasure ship."

"Hm, all this treasure, that statue, and the Honor Guards," Allura mused, then stiffened. "It must be for a ceremony of some kind!"

"What makes you say that?" Lance asked, looking at her.

"Why else would they handle this much treasure at once?" Allura replied. "And then there's that statue. Like Hunk said earlier, clearly they're going to erect it somewhere. If it were of me, I would." The others nodded, and then Syaoran grunted.

"Rats, if this is right then this can't be all of it," he said. "There should be another whole chest's worth!" Meilin glanced at the room around them.

"There are other chests in here. Maybe one of them?" she suggested.

"Or given the size of this ship, maybe there are other chambers with treasure in them," Pidge added. "The other chest could be in one of them." Before they could ponder further, though, Platt began to squeak wildly again, this time from a window he was perched in.

"Now what?" Hunk pondered, and they all dashed over to the window to look out of it. As they stared into the rock filled expanse of space surrounding the ship, they noticed a bright light that seemed to be moving in their direction.

"Is that what I think it is?" Syaoran asked, his nerves starting to flare.

"Looks like the Galrans picked up the SOS, too, and one of their ships finally located them for rescue," Lance said.

"Okay, we grab the chest we've got and go!" Meilin decided, only for Allura to grab her as she started to move.

"They'll be boarding before you can launch your ship and escape," she told the girl.

"But...," Meilin started, but then the light enlarged and they could now properly make out a standard Galran battlecruiser.

"So, what are we gonna do?" Hunk asked.

"I have a plan, but first, Syaoran, can you cast an invisibility spell?" Keith stated.

"No, I haven't learned that yet," Syaoran admitted, then smiled. "But our ship does have a cloaking device that isn't currently installed."

"You mind if we borrow it for one of our lions?" Keith smiled back.

The cruiser carefully navigated through the stone field until it reached the wrecked cargo ship, matching its shield frequency to the freighter in order to combine them into effectively one, and then launched anchor cables into it in order to latch on and tow the larger vessel out of the dangerous field. Then a group of Star Cutters launched from the cruiser, flew over to the cargo vessel, and docked in its landing bay. The pilots disembarked and, having a ship's schematic on hand, made a bee-line for the statue chamber.

Whilst this was going on, Syaoran quickly grabbed the unused cloaking device and handed it to Hunk, who hastily installed it into Red, and Lance flew his now cloaked lion to another hole in the side of the ship not far from the statue chamber, allowing him to slip it inside and then latch onto the back of the statue, blending into it. He then slipped out and rejoined the others for the next part of Keith's plan, which, frankly, Lance felt was a little crazy.

A few minutes later, the Galran soldiers came dashing into the statue chamber, and came to a stop when they saw the giant gold effigy of Lotor.

"There it is, it's intact!" the officer in the lead, who wore a red uniform, stated. They then heard the sound of a small bang followed by the clatter of something crashing to the floor followed by a moan of pain. "What was that?!" the officer asked, and lead the men with him into the side hallway toward the treasure hold. As they approached the opened door to the hold, an Honor Guard stumbled out into the hall, clearly dazed and woozy. After only a couple of feet, the guard flopped to the floor.

"It's an Honor Guard assigned to the ship," the officer commented. "Sit tight!" He dashed over and knelt next to the guard, carefully lifting him up enough for them to face each other. "You're lucky to be alive," the officer told him. "Are you badly hurt, guard?"

"No," the guard, in Keith's voice, answered. "But we got struck by a meteor swarm. It was terrible. The door was jammed, and we had to improv a small explosion to open it so we could get help."

"And the cargo?" the officer asked. "How is it? And how many have survived?"
"We protected it with our lives, it's safe," the guard replied. "And there are seven of us, including me, I know to be alive. I'm not placing a lot of hope on the others." The officer nodded.

"As the Honor Guard would. My respects, soldier," he said. "As to the gold statue of Prince Lotor that King Zarkon sent him, I've already confirmed its status myself, so you don't need to worry about that. For now, take your fellow survivors to the medical bay and tend to yourselves. My men and I are under orders to retrieve the treasure from this ship and get it to Walbrane. You're not considered treasure." With that, the officer turned to his men and barked, "Men, collect the treasure for transport! We'll figure out how to move that statue afterward." The men nodded and started to step forward.

"W...wait!" the guard rose his hand, and the soldiers halted.

"What is it?" the officer asked. Just then three more adult guards and three younger, if their size was anything to go by, guards stepped into the open doors of the cargo hold, the largest adult leaning slightly on the second largest, one arm over the other guard's shoulder. The first guard then seemed to find his second wind as he proceeded to pull himself to his feet, the officer also standing back up.

"We'll protect the statue. It's our sacred duty to finish the job we started," the first, now lead, guard stated.

"Yes, of course, I beg your pardon," the officer replied. "And as you've already come so far and suffered so much, I suppose there's no harm in bending an order a little. Very well! I'll have the ship towed immediately. Prince Lotor wants the statue to arrive at Tyrus City on Walbrane as soon as possible. I'll allow you to make the treasure's delivery when we get there."

"Thank you, sir!" the lead guard nodded, and the officer nodded back, before turning to his men. So far, so good..., Keith thought to himself, really glad the Honor Guard helmets hid their wearers' faces so well.

The battlecruiser carefully towed the freighter out of the stone field and hauled it to Walbrane. In the treasure ship, as soon as they reached planetary orbit, Syaoran stiffened, and quickly suppressed his magic as hard as he could.

"We got a problem," he whispered.

"What is it?" Lance whispered back.

"There's a magic user down there, a strong one, and I think we're gonna head right to them!" Syaoran stated quietly.

"Are you sure?" Hunk asked, also whispering.

"I can sense their mana, their magic aura, from here," Syaoran stated. "Is that...?"

"Probably Haggar and Sakura," Keith whispered. "Figures they'd be here with Lotor." The others nodded in agreement.

"But I'm only sensing one aura...," Syaoran whispered to himself.

Planet side, Lotor, Haggar, Sakura, Zeta, Pheada, and Jurgna sat around a small table in an upper floor sitting room of the main Spa Resort, enjoying a Tea break, Cova in Haggar's lap and Spinner sitting idly upon the table itself near Sakura nibbling a teacake. Haggar's staff was sitting propped against the wall behind her, and Sakura's up against table next to her. Lotor sat on one side while Zeta sat opposite him, Haggar on the side in between to Lotor's left, and the girls on the side to his right, starting with Sakura and ending with Pheada next to her father. The Princesses were barely hiding their annoyance at having to share the table with Sakura, when the two witches suddenly froze, Sakura's eyes widening in surprise. Sakura turned and looked up toward the sky through a nearby window.

"What was that?" she asked, Spinner looking up at his mistress's inquiry.

"Oh, look, she's started to imagine things," Pheada smiled. "How sad."

"Not at all, this was not imagination," Haggar corrected, also staring out the window, Pheada losing her smile. "That was a magic aura, a powerful one, coming close, and whoever it is, they've been decently trained to suppress it that quickly and efficiently to vanish from our senses. But unfortunately for them, not fast enough to avoid us knowing they're coming."

"Is it one of ours?" Sakura asked.

"Hm, maybe," Haggar said, rubbing her chin. "Though I don't think they'd hide it from us if they were, and I'd think I'd know if there was another magic user in the Empire with that level of power available."

"Another?" Sakura blinked, but Haggar just smiled, unconcerned.

"We'll have to greet them properly when we find out who they are," the old witch stated.

The cruiser brought both ships in to land not far from the resort. From inside their disguises, the Voltron Force and two kids all gave a slight shudder at the choice in architecture, and, more to the point, the cheers of the very human crowd in Lotor's name.

"They act like he's a hero," Allura hissed. "Don't they have any idea what he really is?"

"Going by the cheering, I'm gonna say probably not," Meilin whispered. "Though, honestly, I can't really say I do, either. I've never met the guy."

"Don't worry," Allura glowered. "I'm pretty sure you're going to soon..."

A short time later in the sitting room, King Zeta poured Lotor and himself some local wine, a crimson vintage, and the two drank deeply. Haggar, Sakura, Pheada, and Jurgna simply sat quietly for the moment. From where they were, they could hear the cries of jubilant praise for Lotor from the people of Walbrane.

"I would say that this is a great day, my Prince," the King stated happily. "My people love you and celebrate from the heart your most royal birthday, and your treasure has been recovered."

"Indeed, this uproar is most definitely an expression of true loyalty," Haggar agreed. "And just imagine what wonderfully evil deeds we can finance with all the riches!"

"So, how soon until we get some birthday cake?" Sakura asked. "After what happened on Jarre and Mura, I'm hoping for at least this birthday to be nice and uninterrupted."

"A feast is being prepared for us and will be brought out within the hour," Zeta said with an indulgent smile. "And, yes, there will be a glorious birthday cake involved."

"Yes!" Sakura clenched her fists. "Cake!"

"Really, getting so excited over a desert," Pheada commented, a note of snobbery in her voice.

"So uncouth," Jurgna agreed with a wave of her hand.

"If you don't want any, that's fine," Sakura smiled happily. "More for me!" The two Princesses glared at her in return. Lotor then set down his glass.

"Well, it may be a bit early, but I think I'll wave from the balcony," Lotor commented. "Savor the moment, and all that." Lotor stood up and stepped away from the table, the others watching him.

"Ah, how glorious," Zeta crowed. "The people will be most impressed. I thank you, my Prince."

"I do hope we're not letting ourselves get a little too relaxed," Spinner quipped, causing Zeta and his granddaughters to blink in surprise, having not heard him speak in their presence until now.

"Oh, don't be a worry wart, Spinner," Lotor waved him off nonchalantly.

"May I say, your pet is quite the amazing specimen, Witch Sakura," Zeta commented.

"My familiar, actually, and thank you," Sakura replied. Just then, the officer who had lead the soldiers in inspecting the wrecked treasure ship previously entered the room, Lotor stopping to turn his attention to him.

"Yes?" Lotor asked, and the officer brought his right fist to his chest in salute as he came to attention.

"The envoys sent by King Zarkon have arrived with the treasure you've so eagerly awaited," the officer announced.

"Excellent! Have them bring it to me at once!" Lotor ordered. The officer stepped out a moment, then stepped back in and to the side as the seven Imperial Honor Guards entered, pushing the largest of the treasure chests in front of them. They came to a stop and stood to attention, the leader saluting Lotor. They were ordered, from left to right, the third tallest after the leader, the leader, the largest, the second tallest after the leader, and then the three junior officers. As this occurred, Sakura, Pheada, and Jurgna turned in their seats partly so as to better see what was going on.

"Here are your riches, sire, as per his majesty's orders!" the lead guard said. "Our task has been fulfilled!"

"I'm pleased, you have done well," Lotor nodded. "Your hard work shall be rewarded." He stepped forward to the chest, and at the table the others watched carefully, Sakura briefly glancing to the middle of the three junior guards. "Now then, I'd like to look upon these gains for myself. This is one of the two chests of treasure claimed from planet Clow, is it not?" Lotor stated as he reached out his hand and touched the top of the chest. He then looked up at the guards. "Well, where's the key? Don't keep me in suspense!"

"Of course, your Highness," the lead guard said, and bent down, retrieving the over sized key from the side of the chest, then handed it to the largest guard who walked around the chest to reach the lock. He lifted the key to the lock and slipped it in, twisting and opening the chest to view. Lotor breathed in awe at the sight, and Sakura stood up and stepped over for a closer look.

"Oh my, quite the little haul," she grinned, then reached in and pulled out the ruby bracelet with the sapphires on top and slipped it onto her right wrist, the junior guard to the group's far left stiffening as she did so. "What do you think, Lotor?" she asked, striking a pose. "Is it me?"

"Yes, it goes quite well with your outfit, Sakura," Lotor agreed. "Once I look over the full inventory, I'll decide whether to let you keep it. Now then, lock this again." The last he ordered of the guard, who nodded and did so after Sakura dropped the bracelet back in. He then stepped back over to the other guards and handed the key back to the lead guard, who started to bend down to put it back where it had been before.

"Hand that to the Red Army Commander," Lotor instructed, and the lead guard nodded, walking around the chest the other way to do so, only to trip and fall to his knees, the key dropping to the floor.

"My apologies for my rudeness, sire," he groveled as he bowed.

"Clumsy lout...wait...," Lotor started as he looked down on the man, then looked back up at the other Honor Guards present, something finally clicking, most notably the way Sakura was maintaining her eyes on the center junior guard. Something's strange here, fishy even, he thought.

"Red Army Commander, who are these guards?" he inquired of the officer.

"Survivors of the cargo ship's space wreck, sire," the officer replied.

"And you confirmed this?" Lotor asked, walking towards him.

"Confirmed?" the officer's eyes widened slightly.

"You're telling me nothing felt amiss to you?" Lotor pressed. "You didn't sense anything?"

"What do you mean, my Prince?" the officer asked, now honestly curious.

"I'm asking whether you smelled any rats?" Lotor said, coming to a stop in front of the officer. The officer blinked, and turned his head to look at the Honor Guards, rubbing his chin.

"Not particularly," he said.

"Really?" Sakura asked, then pointed at the center junior guard. "Not even that one? The one mama Haggar and I sensed when you reached orbit?" Said guard flinched slightly at her statement.

"What?" the officer stared. "Why would you..." But at this point Lotor had heard enough, and pulled out his sword.

"Incompetent fool!" he roared, and swung his blade, slashing the unfortunate soldier down the middle. In their disguises, Allura gave a gasp, Syaoran stared at the scene aghast, and Meilin felt herself pale in horror at what she'd just seen. At the table, while Haggar, Spinner, and Zeta watched all impassively, Pheada and Jurgna stared in shock at the sudden violent act. The officer wobbled off to the side, taking a few steps as he desperately clutched his throat in a bid to staunch the flow of blood, then fell in a last death spasm.

"W...why...?" he gasped his last as he fell.

"Because you couldn't even pick up the scent of an impostor," Lotor snarled, then turned back to the lead guard, still kneeling on the floor, pointing his sword at him. "Now, my masked friend, let's see who you really are!" he declared. The guard leapt to his feet with a brief grunt and then jumped backwards onto the treasure chest, pulling his helmet off and tossing it aside, the jig decidedly up.

"Masked or not, you're no friend of mine, Lotor!" Keith declared, grabbing his Honor Guard uniform to rip it off. "Let's go team!"

"Allow me," Syaoran snapped his fingers together, and a second later the rest of Keith's disguise as well everyone else's seemed to explode off of them on their own, their helmets simply flying off and away, the Voltron Force and Meilin going for their borrowed swords while Syaoran yanked out his pendant and summoned his magic blade. While this happened, Zeta, Haggar, Pheada, and Jurgna all jumped to their feet in surprise, Cova leaping onto the table and Spinner lifting into the air. Sakura snapped her hand behind her and her staff flew through the air into it.

"What do you know, a warlock," Sakura smiled, pleasantly surprised as she swung her staff in front of herself.

"SORCERER!" Syaoran and Meilin snapped in unison.

"Whatever," she said, not remotely perturbed.

"Recruiting are you, Keith?" Lotor smiled wryly, then glanced at Allura. "And you brought the fair Princess Allura with you, my thanks. I certainly wouldn't refuse an encounter with her. Though I will admit that seven on two aren't the best odds." Allura growled slightly at that, and Lance took a step forward.

"Why don't we have a little one on one, Lotor! Finish what we started on planet Lyra!" he challenged.

"Oh? You wish for me to humiliate you again?" Lotor grinned. "I seem to recall you being pretty pathetic."

"Enough bluffing, you slime!" Lance roared, only for Lotor to casually leap backwards and hit a switch on the wall behind him with his left hand.

"Who's bluffing?" Lotor asked as the wall behind him arose and revealed an entire platoon of Galran Imperial Honor Guards without their helmets. "Get them!" Lotor ordered, the soldiers beginning to storm into the room. "Kill the men, but take the woman and the three brats alive!"

"You will all leave that boy to my apprentice! No one else is to challenge him if they value their lives!" Haggar snapped out, indicating Syaoran. She then turned to her Prince. "That includes you, Lotor!" Lotor blinked in surprise at that declaration. What does the old hag know about him that I don't? he pondered.

"A special test, mama Haggar? Very well, I accept," Sakura stated as she began to charge a spell.

"Then get used to failing!" Syaoran said, then released a blast of fire from his sword in her direction, only for Sakura to swing her staff, releasing a counter spell that deflected the fireball before swinging back and unleashing a gust of wind. Syaoran snapped his sword up defensively, blocking the wind blast. Meanwhile, the deflected blast landed scant centimeters from Pheada's and Jurgna's feet, eliciting a small shriek from the two Princesses.

"Did she do that on purpose?" Pheada asked, then glowered. "She did that on purpose!"

"Noooo," Spinner crowed. "I'm sure the spell landing in front of you two was a complete coincidence." He then glanced at Haggar. "Should I...?"

"Not yet," Haggar waved for him to stay put. Spinner returned his attention to the battle. Sakura thrust her staff forward, firing a lightning bolt. Syaoran swung his sword to his left, redirecting the bolt to the wall before swinging his blade at Sakura to send his own energy shot at her, only for her to swing her staff upward, sending the blast over her head to land in the ceiling.

Whilst all this occurred, the soldiers attacked the rest of the Voltron Force and Meilin with gusto, swords clanging against each other in a flurry. The Force members and Meilin each took on two to three at once, delivering blows and dodging strikes meant for them in turn. Hunk struck down two Galrans with relative ease. Pidge slashed a man's thighs, dropping him to the ground before moving to another and striking him in the lower torso, using his height to his advantage. Allura clashed with a soldier who was starting to overwhelm her with his strength, so she kneed him in the groin and then punched him out before moving away, engaging two others and landing death blows on them quickly. Lance struck a soldier down vertically. Meilin mostly deflected the blade blows, letting her opponents get close before striking hard with fast punches and kicks that brought her enemies down.

Sakura threw up her free hand, releasing a black wave of smoke. Syaoran snapped his hand up, his index and middle fingers held together in an upward point, and a blaze of light shot from him, dispelling the blackness. He then pointed his fingers at her, sending a lance of ice flying forward, and she pulled her staff upright in front of her, a wall of flame shielding her and melting the lance before it could reach its intended target. As the fire wall dissipated, both young mages started to wonder if it was possible for either of them to actually land a blow on the other. In desperation, Syaoran held his sword horizontally, his free hand pressed against the tip of the blade, and he conjured a massive wave of wind that caused Sakura's skirt to briefly fly upward before she could slam down her free hand on it, unwittingly awarding the youthful sorcerer a quick glimpse of, surprisingly, pink.

Huh, woulda guessed they'd be black like the rest of the outfit, he thought, even as Sakura looked up at him in, of all things, amusement.

"You naughty boy!" she chimed at him. "Trying to get a peek at my panties!"

"What?!" Syaoran blushed, his guard faltering in his sudden embarrassment. "No I wasn't! I was trying to blow you over!" Sakura then smacked the butt of her staff to the floor creating a wave of energy that shook the floor and caused Syaoran, still flustering over the accusation, to fall backward. She then followed up by directing her staff at him and casting a binding lasso of light that wrapped several times around him, pinning his arms to his torso and his legs together, leaving him pinned to the floor. She stepped over to him, smiling merrily and lightly kicking his magic sword away from his hand as he cursed his own idiocy.

"But so you know," she said happily, "That vision is only for my Pidgey. Ooh, speaking of!" She turned her attention away from Syaoran to where Pidge was still trading sword blows with members of the Honor Guard. "PIDGEY!" she cried, and began to skip over to her target. Again, Syaoran cursed himself. As this occurred, a body landed perilously close to the table, Haggar grabbing Cova and stepping back as Spinner flitted backward casually, and Zeta grabbed his granddaughters and pulled them all back quickly.

Keith struck down three enemy soldiers, the last dropping to the floor near Lotor, who was starting to lose patience with the proceedings. He brandished his own blade as he growled.

"Oh, for crying out..., fine! I'll take you myself!" he declared and dashed into the fray, Lance slashing down another guard before turning and crossing blades with Lotor. They sparred for only a few seconds, then Lotor managed a parry swing that knocked Lance's sword from his hand and caused Lance to fall to the floor on a spot that looked suspiciously like a trap door. Because it was.

"Yes! Stand back!" Zeta called with a smile on his face, and turned and smacked a button set into the wall. A second later, the trap door opened and Lance fell in, catching himself on the ledge by one hand, barely.

"Lance! Hold on!" Keith called, slashed his current opponent, and dashed over, dropping to his knee and grabbing for Lance's wrist. Just as he took hold, though, Lance's own grip failed, and the man plummeted into the pit below, yanking out of Keith's grip before he could react. Hunk, Allura, Pidge, and Meilin stared in horror, only to find themselves facing laser rifles brandished by some of Lotor's more human looking soldiers who had just arrived. Before they could react, more magic lassos wrapped around all of them, binding them and forcing them to drop their swords. Sakura then bounced up and wrapped her arms around Pidge.

"Hi, Pidgey! I'm so happy you're here!" she chimed.

"Wha?! What happened to...oh," Pidge started to ask, then noticed the captured Syaoran as he was being pulled back up to his feet by two of the guards.

"But don't think that just because we're finally together it doesn't mean you're not getting punished for what you did before," Sakura stated crossly. "I think at least one lash for each shot you took at mama Haggar is warranted."

"Huh? But I don't have a gun on me now, and I never even looked at the old bat," Pidge said.

"She means during our last engagement, when the Gorgon went rogue on us to try and 'adopt' you," Haggar corrected him. Pidge thought about that; he had shot at Haggar then to drive her away. How many times, though? The preteen boy could feel the drop of sweat slipping down his cheek as he realized it was easily in the neighborhood of twenty shots, probably more. Meanwhile, at the still open trap door, Keith was momentarily frozen, still processing what had happened to Lance.

"Lance! Damn it!" he called, and then felt something metal and sharp at his neck on the left side. He carefully glanced over to see Lotor's sword next to his face, even as he heard more guards stepping over to him. "Oh, shit," he cursed himself.

"No need to fret about him, he's in good company down there," Lotor stated calmly. "You'd be better off worrying about what's going to happen to you and your other friends up here with no Voltron to come to your rescue. That really reduces you to almost nothing, doesn't it?"

"You gonna kill me or not?" Keith asked, choosing not to give Lotor any satisfaction in this if he could help it.

"In due time," Lotor replied. "Actually, just out of curiosity, where did you hide the lions?" Keith just glared at him as the guards seized him and pulled him to his feet while Lotor moved his sword away from his captive, relaxing his guard. "That's fine. I'll just ask the lovely Princess instead," Lotor stated, and turned and walked over to Allura. Calmly he took up one of her hands, moving as though to kiss the back of it. To assist him, Sakura partially released the magical binds on Allura.

"Obviously, when I said nothing, my dear Allura, I wasn't including you," he put on his usual attempt at charm. "Now then, please tell me the whereabouts of the Voltron Lions, if you don't mind?" As it happened, Allura's arm was just free enough that she yanked it out of Lotor's grip and slapped the dark Prince, hard. Lotor briefly winced in surprise.

"Never! You're a beast!" she cried in defiance. Lotor growled, barely checking his anger.

"I don't think you're her type," Meilin quipped, drawing Lotor's attention to her, as well as to Syaoran.

"Ah, yes, before I forget," he said, pointing his sword at Meilin's face, causing her eyes to cross as she stared at it nervously. "Know now, girl, that the only reason I don't want you and the witch boy..."

"Warlock," Sakura corrected.

"SORCERER!" Syaoran roared.

"Whatever," Lotor rolled his eyes, "As I was saying, the only reason I want to keep you two alive for the moment is because I have no idea who you are, so I suggest you tell me, and hope it impresses me enough not to end you with the other two."

"Really? You don't know who I am?" Syaoran arched an eyebrow. "I'm Prince Syaoran, of planet Clow, son of Queen Yelan, and unless you want mother's full wrath coming down on you, I suggest you release me and my cousin, and return all of the treasure you stole from us! Just ask the hag over there if she thinks she can actually take my mother on and win if you think that's gonna save you from her!"

"Oh, there's no need to worry about that," Haggar said, briefly drawing everyone's attention. "The confrontation between me and Yelan is already preordained in stone, young man. I'm merely counting the days until it arrives." Now all stared at Haggar in surprise at this proclamation, but before Sakura could ask her what she meant, a new guard came dashing into the room.

"Prince Lotor! We have located four of the lions concealed in the cargo ship," he announced. "Also, the main celebrations are about to begin!"

"Excellent!" Lotor smiled, sheathing his sword. "It seems victory is mine at last! Come! Be my guests at my birthday party!"

In the pit far below them, Lance rolled down an incline into a cave-like area, with one end closed off by what looked like an old latticework. After pulling himself up to his feet he was confronted by three men in rags who barely looked human and who rose unsteadily to their feet and licked their lips as they approached him. Lance stepped backward, attempting to keep his distance from the men, continuing to do so until his back hit the latticework. As the men continued to close the gap, Lance suddenly realized he could hear chewing behind him, and briefly turned to see Platt had apparently fallen down the trap door with him, and was vigorously chewing away at the latticework in an attempt to provide Lance an exit.

Lance gave him a cheer, then turned to see one of the crazed men lunging at him. With no other option, Lance sidestepped, caught the man in mid-lunge, spun around, and tossed the man back into his fellows. Lance was really starting to regret the decision to stow their laser pistols back in their lions before donning their disguises at that moment. Fortunately, a few seconds later Platt managed to complete enough damage that Lance was able to toss himself against the latticework, smashing through it and assuring his escape, grabbing Platt as he went. He dashed through the underground corridors, which he quickly surmised to be an underground prison strewn throughout a large portion of the city, and eventually found an exit, escaping back to the surface.

In the plaza outside the main Spa Resort, a dais had been set up with a table atop it, a small set of stairs in front of it leading down to the ground beneath. To those looking at it, Haggar sat at the far left end of the table, Cova in her lap, followed by Allura, her hands tied behind her back, and looking grumpy. Next to her was Lotor, followed by Sakura, and the far right end was occupied by an equally bound and unhappy Pidge. Spinner sat quietly upon the table itself near his mistress. Upon the table were plates filled with food and goblets freshly topped with wine and juice. Haggar's staff sat leaning against her chair, and Sakura's was set leaning against the table between her and Lotor. Syaoran's sword, which had reverted to its pendant form, lay on the table next to Sakura as well, as she had decided to claim it for herself.

Off to the side transports were offloading the remaining treasures from the wrecked ship, and the blue, yellow, green, and black lions had been brought out and set up on display in front of Lotor's Command ship, along with the small spaceship, now identified as Syaoran and Meilin's spacecraft.

And in the open area before the table were four large fireworks, waiting to be lit. Upon each firework one person was tied, their feet tied at the ankles to the bottom just above the circle of rockets that would launch the firework, and their hands tied behind their backs, all four forced to stand straight while awaiting their intended demise. They were, of course, Hunk, Keith, Syaoran, and Meilin, in that order. To the men's surprise, the two children weren't freaking out in the least, even though they were in very deadly danger. In front of them, guards with lit torches stood at the ready, awaiting the command.

A dazzling display of fireworks lit up the sky as they all watched. The gold statue of Lotor had also been removed from the cargo ship and set up in a prominent position, visible to one and all. A large crowd of locals not too far away were spectating and as before cheering Lotor's name, too far away to see who was tied to the four large fireworks waiting to take flight. At the table, Lotor watched all, happily taking a drink from his goblet.

"Ah, that statue is so beautiful and fitting. It towers above everything, as though I were a god!" Lotor proclaimed, staring at his edifice.

"And people say you have no humility," Sakura quipped before taking a drink from her own glass. Lotor chuckled merrily, turning his attention to the four bound captives below.

"And this is also a wonderful sight," he said. "These fireworks will hurl all of you to your heaven!" He put down his goblet, grabbed a napkin, and dabbed his lips. "Yes, I think I'll eliminate you one by one, so savor your final moments." He then turned to Allura. "By the way, where did you hide the red lion? It's not really capturing Voltron without the whole set, after all." Allura turned her head away from the evil Prince.

"Don't know," she said, attempting to stay calm. "Not its keeper."

"How about you, Pidgey?" Sakura asked her own captive. "Do you know where it went?"

"Nope," Pidge replied, also turning away. "I'm not its keeper, either. You'll just have to go save Lance and ask him."

"Oh, Pidgey, my darling," Sakura wrapped her arm around his shoulders, "No need to be coy. I know you're finally coming around and gonna join us."

"Tch, yeah, in your dreams, maybe," Pidge said.

"Actually, it was in my dreams!" Sakura smiled wider. "I had a prophetic dream just earlier today. I saw you in your green livery, Spinner floating at your side!" At this, Pidge and Lotor both turned to look at her in surprise.

"You had a what?" Pidge stared in surprise.

"You actually saw him?" Lotor asked. "You're positive it was him?"

"Well, okay, they were both in silhouette, but c'mon!" Sakura answered Lotor. "You think I don't know my own familiar when I see him?!"

"Fair point," Lotor admitted, then blinked and turned back to Allura. "Forgive me, Allura, you must be thirsty. Here, have some," he offered her his goblet, holding it to her lips for her. "It's Red Lava Juice, a local delicacy. Trust me, you'll enjoy it. It's nonalcoholic, if that matters to you?" Allura brusquely head butted him away with a grunt, falling back onto the table in such way that she was able to grab a knife and quickly tuck it into her belt before Lotor grabbed her and pulled her back into his arms. Pidge growled as he saw it all.

"Let go of me!" Allura demanded.

"Just leave her alone, you creep!" Pidge snarled. Lotor didn't even turn around.

"Worry about yourself, Pidge," he said. "Stop fighting, Allura, your future is with me. Obey me properly and I won't mistreat you, ever." Before either Voltron member could respond horns sounded and they all turned to see a hover car moving toward them, piloted by a local guard and with King Zeta in the passenger seat, Pheada and Jurgna riding in the back. The car was towing an enormous flatbed cart upon which sat a ginormous white frosted cake shaped like an ivory pillar castle, nearly thirty-five feet tall and easily fifteen feet across at the base. The very top was a dome with a three-pointed spire atop it.

"Whoa," Sakura whispered, awed. "So much cake. And this time," she smiled at Pidge, "you and the others can't ruin it for me. I mean us!" Lotor just chuckled at her self correction and stood up, stepping over to the front of the dais, at the top of the small flight of stairs.

"Prince Lotor, Prince of the universe, this is our meager gift to you on the celebration of your most royal birth!" Zeta stood up and announced, his right hand raised to the sky in salute. "May you blow out the candles with but a single breath!" Behind him, the two Princesses also rose to their feet and raised their hands in salute as well.

"Happy birthday, Prince Lotor!" they cheered.

"It is quite the splendid cake, King Zeta!" Lotor stated proudly. "Blowing out the candles in one breath just might be a challenge!" He chuckled merrily, then turned toward the waiting guards. Unbeknownst to all, during all of this Platt popped out of one of the higher tiers of the cake, knocking over and out one of the candles as he did, quickly scanned the area, spotted his bound friends, and dove off, skidding down to the ground and zipping over to the four on the fireworks.

"As I blow out the candles, light the fuses on those four!" Lotor commanded, then turned to the four waiting below. "Any last pointless words before you go?" he asked them.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Syaoran smiled. "Thing is, you missed someone."

"What?" Lotor blinked in surprise.

"GET HIM, KERO!" Syaoran snapped...and nothing happened. Syaoran growled. "Please don't tell me that idiot is still asleep," he said, glancing downward at his waist, then growled again. "Where's he go?!" Hunk glanced over, and noticed for the first time that the boy's teddy bear had vanished.

"You weren't actually expecting your good luck toy to help us, were you?" he asked, not sure what the kid was thinking right then.

"More like bad luck!" Syaoran snarled. "Why did I even..."

"Syaoran," Meilin interrupted, her face looking severely annoyed.

"WHAT?!" Syaoran rounded on her. She didn't even flinch.

"He's at the table," Meilin said, and Syaoran snapped his head to look at said furniture, his eyes bulging.

"Seriously, what are you...?" Lotor started, but stopped short at the sound of an unexpected voice.

"Excuse me, Princess?" a far too cheery for its own good voice chimed, and all turned to look at what had made it. There, standing on the table in front of the now very surprised Allura on his hind legs, was a second Spinner. This creature looked almost identical to Sakura's familiar, save for his ears being slightly smaller and round, his eyes little more than black dots, his tail ending in a tuft of white fur instead of a spiral, his wings looking like tiny bird wings instead of insect-like ones that had three feathers instead of two and were noticeably larger then Spinner's, and he was a bright yellow-orange as opposed to Spinner's black. Nearly all were stunned at the sight.

"Yes?" Allura somehow found her voice.

"Are you going to eat that?" the new Spinner asked, indicating the plate of food in front of her, his mouth a broad smile.

"Wasn't...planning to," she admitted.

"May I?" he asked politely.

"Sure, go ahead," she said, and the little creature gave a cheer as he scooped up a fork, speared a large bite of the meat, and shoved it into his mouth, his head expanding impossibly to five times its regular size as he chewed away happily.

"Delishoush!" he declared around the bite. A few seconds later he swallowed, then speared another bite and shoved it in, with the same head expanding results.

"KERO, YOU WORTHLESS GLUTTON!" Syaoran screamed. "IF YOU'RE GONNA EAT SOMETHING, EAT LOTOR'S STINKING HEAD!" Lotor blinked at the statement, not because the boy had had the balls to say it, but because he couldn't help but ponder if this new familiar could actually do it. Kero, on the other hand, paused mid chew, eyes briefly enlarged, then chewed and swallowed quickly before turning on his apparent master.

"Are you nuts?!" he called back. "Do you have any idea how nasty a Galran's flesh probably tastes?! I don't care if he is a halfie!" Haggar stiffened in alarm, but it was too late.

"Halfie?" Lotor, Allura, Sakura, and Pidge all asked while the others below just blinked in surprise.

"Duh!" Kero stated, an air of superiority now coming off of him. "He's way too pretty to be a pure blood like the hag over here! He's clearly got something else in him." The Voltron Force found themselves looking at Lotor as though in a new light, as if they were really "seeing" him for the first time.

"Huh," Lotor rubbed his chin. "Now that he says it out loud..."

"That would explain a lot!" he and Sakura chimed together. Then Sakura blinked and jumped to her feet, slamming her hands to the table.

"WHO CARES ABOUT THAT?!" she snapped, turning to look at Syaoran. "YOU STOLE MY IDEA, YOU THIEF!"

"What are you talking about, girl?" Kero turned to look at her, only for Spinner to rise up and flutter over to hover next to his counterpart.

"She's referring to the fact the boy made another me," Spinner said calmly. "Specifically you." Kero stared at his opposite, blinking for a moment in surprise, then resumed his smile.

"Oh, she wishes that were true," Kero said, letting out a merry laugh, Sakura turning to glare at him in fury. "The kid had nothing to do with me, he just broke the seal and let us out. If anyone was playing copycat here, it was her. I am KEROBEROS! Greatest and most fabulous creation of my one true master, Clow Reed!"

"Seal?" Lotor and Haggar asked, confused, and Sakura rounded on the familiar.

"Impossible!" she declared. "Familiars are tied to their creator's mana, and thus their lives! When the creator dies, the familiar dies! And Clow Reed died over three centuries ago!"

"I see you know your history, girly," Kero said, still smiling. "And you're right, he did. But he decided we were just too amazing to just be wiped out of existence, so he created a great magic seal and put us inside, to remain there until a mage came along with enough power to crack it open and then we'd attach to their magic and serve them. The kid's just the first one who managed to do it about a year ago." He then stopped, and seemed to truly examine Sakura for the first time. "Though admittedly, I am now willing to admit I actually got lucky on that one."

"What do you mean?" Syaoran blinked.

"Really? You didn't notice?" Kero asked him. "In terms of raw power, you and the girl are basically equals! Right now I couldn't tell you for certain which one of you is stronger."

"We are?!" both young mages stared in surprise.

"Yes, he is quite correct," Haggar confirmed. "If there is a difference in the amount of power you two currently possess, it is for the moment imperceptible." Sakura beamed at Syaoran, now even more proud of her victory over him.

"Yeah, in other words, if you hadn't cracked the seal, kid, she coulda done it herself if she'd beaten you to it," Kero commented. "So like I said, I got lucky on that one. I mean, can you imagine me working for team evil?"

"Actually...," Syaoran and Meilin started.

"Gotta say, if not for stumbling your guard when she accused you of trying to sneak a peak, your little duel with her could have gone on for who knows how long," Kero stated, cutting them off.

"Wait, you were awake then?!" Syaoran blinked, then glared at his inherited familiar. "Then why didn't you help us?!"

"Well, first, I had to get fully awake, and figure out where we were, since this is decidedly not the cargo ship you said we were sneaking into to steal back some stolen treasure," Kero explained. "And by the time I had my full bearings, it was already pretty much over, so I figured lay low for a bit more, wait for my moment, and here we are."

"You mean wait until there was piles of yummy food for you to gorge on," Meilin quipped sarcastically.

"And what would you have done if your master had beaten my mistress, hm?" Spinner asked. "Cause then he would be at the non-mercy of Master Haggar, and hopelessly outclassed." Kero just smiled at Spinner, as if the other familiar had told some kind of joke.

"You're kidding, right?" Kero grinned, Spinner blinking in confusion in response.

"What do you...," Spinner started.

"You don't actually think he could beat mama Haggar, do you?" Sakura asked, Kero looking at her in surprise.

"Wait, are you...you...," Kero started, then turned to Haggar. "She doesn't know, does she?"

"Doesn't know what?" Lotor interjected.

"That in terms of sheer power, Lotor, my evil darling surpassed me some time ago," Haggar admitted, turning to her apprentice. "You really didn't notice, my dear?"

"I...did?" Sakura just stared in surprise. The Voltron Force members stared in utter shock as they processed this information. Meilin, like Sakura, was just plain surprised.

"Wait," Syaoran said, also stunned, "are you saying I'm actually more powerful than Zarkon's prized hag?!"

"Very much so," Kero confirmed happily. "Though it seems she and your mom had the same train of thought in regards to you having access to it."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Sakura and Syaoran asked.

"Yes, what does he mean?" Lotor added, now truly intrigued.

"He means that Yelan and I are in an ironic agreement," Haggar said. "Namely that my wicked dear and the boy are currently nowhere near mature enough to be allowed full unfettered access to all of the magic at their disposal. Hence we have both placed restraining spells on them to limit how much they're actually able to use. It's still a fair amount, to be sure, but hardly the full breadth of it."

"You did what?!" Sakura rounded on her.

"Mom did what?!" Syaoran yelled. The Voltron Force, however, allowed themselves to take a deep breath of relief.

"It was only a precaution, I assure you," Haggar stated. "Think of what your little temper tantrums have managed thus far. They would be far, far worse if I hadn't done it." Lotor thought back to the few enraged bursts he'd seen emerge from his friend, and found himself shuddering ever so briefly at the thought that it was actually far less than what it could have been.

"Well, as interesting as all this is, were you actually planning to do something, or were you just going to prattle on?" Spinner asked his semi-doppel.

"And what makes you think I'm not doing something?" Kero smiled, briefly glancing toward the four below and noticing Syaoran having a brief blink of surprise and stealing a fast glance behind himself, or as much as he could given his current position.

"Oh? You actually think you can stop all of us on your own?" Spinner said. "I doubt you could even get past me."

"Oh, full of yourself, aren't you, junior?" Kero was unperturbed.

"Junior?" Spinner glared. "My name is Spinner Sun, you old codger."

"Ooh, scathing," Kero replied. "You wanna put your money where your mouth is, Junior?" Spinner bristled, now fully hackled.

"Oh, I will happily put you in your place, Codger!" Spinner growled.

"Spinner," Lotor said warningly, starting to suspect something was up. Cova also yowled at Spinner, his tone having a warning tone to it.

"As we are?" Kero asked, his smile unbroken. "Or full forms?"

"Oh, we're doing this full formed. I insist," Spinner said, a slight smile starting to return to his own lips. "Wouldn't want you whining that you lost to your better just because you didn't get to throw everything you had at me." Cova again meowed, now sounding like he was panicked.

"You are so gonna regret that choice," Kero said, lightly tossing his fork back on to the table before floating off of it and over to the more open area in front of it. Spinner followed suit, but, to everyone's except Sakura, Haggar, Syaoran, Meilin, and Lotor's surprise, put about ten feet between them. "Wanna go first?" Kero smirked.

"Please, old age before beauty, and all that," Spinner replied, also smirking.

"I don't think 'beauty' really applies to what we're about to do," Kero said, and then a large, sun-yellow magic circle rune appeared below him as his tiny wings suddenly snapped out into full-sized bird wings about five feet long that then wrapped around the small familiar. A moment later they opened to reveal that they were now attached to a large, six foot long lion with normal looking gold colored eyes surrounded by white fur and wearing a gold helmet and breastplate. The breastplate was irregularly shaped, resembling a large key with a prong on either side with a large ruby prominently embedded in its center. Another large ruby was just as prominently placed in the helmet just above the lion's eyes. His ears, sticking out the side of the helm, were now slightly pointy and more cat-like and white on the inside, and his muzzle was also white furred. Coming out from behind the breastplate was a heavy furred white blaze. Once the change was done, the circle rune promptly vanished

"What in the world?" Pheada and Jurgna exclaimed.

"That's his true, full form," Sakura explained calmly.

"The 'plush toy' look was just a way to conserve his power," Syaoran added. "And be extra annoying."

"Alright, Junior," Kero, now in a deeper, more baritone voice, said. "I've shown you mine, now let's see what you've got."

"Coming right up, Codger!" Spinner chuckled, and another circle rune, a dark blue one this time, appeared beneath him as his own wings snapped out...into a pair of large black-edged blue butterfly wings! Even as the wings wrapped around Spinner, the four Voltron members felt themselves freeze in horror.

"No...no way," Pidge somehow managed to breathe. Sakura just glanced at him.

"Really? You still hadn't figured it out?" she asked. "It's not like I kept it a secret or anything." The butterfly wings then opened as the second circle rune promptly vanished like the first, revealing, as the Voltron members feared, the butterfly-winged panther creature they'd seen twice before!

"What do you think, Codger?!" Spinner, now in a deep, growly voice, said. "Regretting you made this challenge?" Kero, on the other hand, just stared blankly at Spinner for a moment, then his cheeks puffed as though he were trying to avoid making a noise, before he finally burst into laughter, flipping backward onto his haunches with his fore paws on his belly as though trying to keep from busting his gut, unable to hold in his merriment. Everyone else just stared at this reaction.

"WHAT?!" Spinner yelled. "WHAT'S SO FUNNY, CODGER?!" Kero finally managed to catch his breath and look at his opponent again.

"Seriously?!" he asked back. "Butterfly wings?!" Spinner blanched, unsure what to say to that. Sakura, on the other hand, slammed her palms to the table for a second time.

"I LIKE butterflies, OKAY?!" she screamed.

"Personally, I think they both look kinda stupid," Meilin admitted.

"And yet, still a bit intimidating," Lotor commented.

"ENOUGH!" Spinner roared, his voice actually roaring like the cat he was. "Are you ready for this, Codger?!" Kero flipped back into on all fours position, having apparently gotten the mirth out of his system.

"Alright, let's see what you got," Kero said. "Junior." Spinner gave a small roar of anger and lunged forward through the air, Kero expertly catching him before launching upward.

Rewind.

Kero quietly held his position in Syaoran's belt, pondering his options. Sure, he could jump out now, maybe even surprise everyone and do some damage, but with his 'master' and the others bound, all it would take was one properly aimed shot at the kid, or firing his firework off, and then game over for all them. No, he needed to figure out a way to get the kid, brat, big guy, and boss man free first. As he considered ideas on that point, his ears suddenly picked up the very soft sounds of something dashing as fast as its little feet could carry it toward them.

Lotor was complimenting Zeta on the birthday cake, which Kero had to admit looked scrumptious, so he risked a peek, and saw a little blue mouse, clearly not of local fauna, zipping over to boss man's(Keith's) firework and scampering up to the ropes binding the man's hands. Realizing his best option at that moment, Kero magically phased himself through Syaoran's belt, and dropped to the ground, stealthily flitting over to the dais and up to the table.

"GET HIM, KERO!" he heard the kid call out. Sorry, kid, Kero thought, Got a different plan. He flew to the top of the table quickly and over to the rather lovely Princess, then planted his feet. Even as he heard the brat pointing out his current location, he took a quick breath. Okay, Operation: Buy The Rat Time is a go! he thought. And I can get a little top off while I'm at it!

"Excuse me, Princess?" he declared just loud enough not to come off as obvious, but just loud enough to draw absolutely everyone's attention to him.

Rewind, Again.

After carefully navigating through the back alleys to get back to the main resort building, Lance quickly jumped a guard from behind that was about the right height and build and knocked him out. Quickly donning the man's uniform, Lance slipped through the crowd until he reached the main celebration area and could see what was happening to his friends. Glancing around, he noticed King Zeta and the two young girls who seemed to be his entourage boarding a hover car, behind which was probably the largest cake of any kind Lance had ever seen sitting on an appropriately large flatbed cart. Slipping over to the cart, Lance pulled Platt out of his pocket, handed him a small timed explosive, and dropped the mouse onto the cart.

"Plant it up high, set it to about...five minutes, and then get to Keith, Hunk, and the kids before Lotor sends them flying," Lance instructed. Platt nodded, and slipped over to the cake, quickly burrowing into the base and momentarily vanishing. Lance then quickly slipped through the guards again, this time navigating for the large gold statue of Lotor. Just as he'd reached it, slipped around the back, and began slipping up said back to reclaim his still cloaked lion, he suddenly heard Syaoran call out loudly.

"GET HIM, KERO!" the boy screamed. Kero? Who the hell is Kero? Lance thought, and quickly climbed into the hidden Red. Safely back in his pilot seat, his disguise rapidly discarded, he inserted the key and started warming his lion up, firing the scanners to give him an idea of what was going on and a small audio boost so he could also actually hear what they were saying, just in time to hear the old witch's prized brat scream out loudly.

"WHO CARES ABOUT THAT?! YOU STOLE MY IDEA, YOU THIEF!" he heard her yell, and scanning in on the table he noticed something he hadn't expected to see.

"Is that...another Spinner?" he asked aloud as he stared at Kero for the first time. He chose to watch for a few moments, as Keroberos introduced himself and went on his little diatribe, feeling horrified at the reveal of just how powerful the two child mages were compared to Haggar, and then almost immediately relieved when hearing about the restraining spells they were unknowingly, well, until now at any rate, under. Finally the two talking familiars began trading barbs, deciding to enter a duel. Like his comrades, Lance was initially confused about what the two were doing until Kero transformed into his true self, followed by Sakura and Syaoran's explanation thereof. And then Spinner changed, and Lance felt his blood go cold.

"The whole time," Lance breathed, his mind rocketing back to that far away day when Sven was lost, to the first time he'd laid eyes on the creature that had just appeared below, to his pondering of where it had disappeared to that day, to the first time he'd seen Spinner lazily watching his plight at the hands of Haggar and Sakura from on top of that nearby wall. "It was there the whole time..."

And then down below Spinner lunged at Kero, their battle commenced. Realizing there wasn't any time to wallow about it right then, Lance went through the last pre-flight checks and prepped for his next move.

And Back To Present!

As the two shot upward, Spinner gave a roar, flames filling his mouth. Kero waited only a moment before releasing his hold and banking to his right, dipping out of the way as Spinner let off a blast of fire far greater than either of the ones he'd fired at the heroes in times past in his smaller form. The raging torrent went harmlessly into the air, and just as he started to turn to face Kero, Kero released his own massive fireball blast from his mouth, nailing Spinner dead on! Spinner tumbled backward before catching himself, righting his direction in time to see Kero soaring toward him, and fired another shot, that Kero expertly rolled out of the way of before taking his next shot.

This time Spinner managed to snap aside and avoid the blast, switching tactics and swinging his right forepaw at Kero, claws extended fully. Kero pulled back, the swing just barely grazing his left wing, then spun himself backwards, tagging Spinner in the face with his tail. Just as Kero resumed his upright position, Spinner recovered and flung himself at Kero again, slamming into his counterpart. Kero simply took the blow, rolled in a circle again, and Spinner suddenly found himself underneath Kero, who stopped flapping his wings and simply used them as a form of parachute to moderately slow their fall as gravity took care of the rest. Spinner hit the ground and felt some of the wind knocked out of him, while Kero stayed atop him, pushing himself into a standing position, moving his left forepaw to rest on Spinner's chest, not applying any real pressure.

"So, Junior, is that it?" Kero asked, a mixture of amusement and disappointment in his voice.

"Y...you...," Spinner growled back as he desperately tried to catch his breath.

"Wow," Sakura said as she stepped up to stand next to Lotor, who had himself moved over to stand next to his gimungo birthday cake. "Now that was just kinda pathetic." King Zeta, Pheada, and Jurgna were also standing nearby, waiting patiently.

"The simple difference between youthful zeal and the experience of age, I'm afraid," Lotor admitted, almost crestfallen at how well Spinner had been made a fool of.

"Seriously, have you never sparred before?" Kero calmly asked Spinner, genuinely curious. "'Cause if he were here right now, he might actually smile in mirth for once at how sad you fought."

"This isn't..." Spinner growled.

"Oh," Kero glanced up toward the four tied to the fireworks, "I think it is."

"Time to blow out the candles, I think," Lotor decided, turning toward his cake as Sakura watched over his shoulder. "And have his master and the others launched to their..."

And at that moment the hidden "present" inside the cake finally exploded, blasting chunks of the cake everywhere. Lotor, Sakura, and the local royals all went flying backwards, more from jumping that way in surprise than from the actual blast, which technically wasn't that big, and fell to the ground, Lotor, Zeta, and the Princesses turning as they did so to land face down. Cake, of course, wasn't exactly made of heavy material, and even that small blast still sent chunks flying for meters, dousing many of the onlooking guards, and even dousing Pidge, Allura, and Haggar. As the bits of cake came flying at his mistress, who desperately tried to dodge it without getting up from her seat, Cova leaped from her lap in panic.

The four guards who had been waiting to launch the captives' fireworks had hit the deck, their torches smacking against the ground and being extinguished by bits of cake landing on and smothering them. Some of the cake also reached Kero and Spinner, the latter staring in surprise at the sudden turn of events, while the former made a point of catching a tossed chunk of cake in his maw, chowing down enthusiastically.

"Yum!" he declared. "Is that Angel Food Cake?"
"ANGEL FOOD?!" Haggar exclaimed. Meanwhile, Sakura pulled herself up to a sitting position, and stared at what was left on the flatbed cart.

"No," she breathed. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no..."

"What the hell just happened, Zeta?!" Lotor demanded as he pushed himself to his knees.

"Okay, Lotor! Now it's time for our party!" a frighteningly familiar voice rang out from seemingly nowhere.

"Lance?! He's still alive?!" Lotor stared in shock.

"But how?!" Pheada and Jurgna yelled, pushing themselves up with their hands to look around. The only response was a massive shaking coming from Lotor's gold statue, and then the upper torso exploded. The head came tumbling down to the ground below and the red lion suddenly appeared as if from nowhere as it leaped through the air, landed on the flatbed cart, and turned around to face them before roaring into the sky. By now the five had gotten to their feet, watching Red in astonishment. The crowd below, on the other hand, was screaming and running for cover.

"The cake...how dare you...," Sakura hissed, momentarily forgetting the peril.

"The hell with this!" Zeta screamed, and ran off in fear.

"ZETA! Come back here!" Lotor turned after him. Just then he and Sakura heard a thunk and turned to see Jurgna sitting back into the hover car after detaching the flatbed cart, Pheada snarling at the driver.

"Get us out of here!" she growled. "Now! To the palace!"

"Yes, Princess," the guard replied, firing up the vehicle and driving off.

"Later, offworlder!" Jurgna called behind her as they left.

"Oh, that is it!" Sakura decided, raising a hand in their direction, magic crackling around it. Before she could do anything, though, her and Lotor's attention was diverted, again.

"LOTOR! SAKURA!" Keith's voice rang out, drawing their attention to the dais, where all the heroes, minus Lance, were standing, having grabbed pistols from the fallen guards, and Syaoran having grabbed his pendant back and turned it once more into his magic sword. The kids stood to the left in order of Syaoran, Meilin and Pidge, while the adults were to the right, ordered Keith, Allura, and Hunk. While all had been distracted by the exploding cake, the four captives had pulled their hands free, then quickly got the foot ropes off, and then they'd hopped down and made a dash for the dais, only to find Allura had already cut herself free with her stolen knife and loosed Pidge.

"You played with your food too long, Lotor," Keith grinned. A quick additional roar also reminded them of Red's active presence.

"Now it's our turn to play!" Meilin cheered.

"How dare you," Lotor hissed. I had to play games! he thought to himself. I should have finished them when I had the chance!

"Why you...!" Spinner growled, finally snapping out of it and getting ready to fire another blast at Kero at point blank range, only for Kero to suddenly spring into the air. He flew up and forward just a bit, then did an aerial acrobatic flip and dropped down again, landing perfectly on all fours next to his master.

"Are we really gonna continue this?" Kero asked, mildly amused at Spinner's stubbornness. Spinner simply rolled over and got to his feet, seething.

"Oh, you are not finished with me at all, Codger!" Spinner growled. And then several laser blasts fired from the command ship in the direction of the heroes, causing them all to throw themselves to the ground to evade them. A second barrage forced Red to to jump away as well to avoid damage, hitting the ground on its side. The flatbed cart, though, went up in flames. Lotor, Sakura, and Spinner all turned to the command ship in surprise.

"Quickly now, all of you board the ship and we'll escape!" Haggar's voice called out over the ships' loudspeakers.

"Well, done, Haggar!" Lotor cried out. "Let's go!" Sakura quickly summoned her staff to her as she and Lotor turned and fled toward the ship. Spinner, however, started to move toward the band of heroes, and, more importantly, Kero.

"Spinner! Withdraw!" Lotor ordered over his shoulder as he continued to run.

"But. . ." Spinner started.

"RED!" Sakura called over her own shoulder, and Spinner glanced in its direction, noting it was starting to get back up. He grumbled in a mix of annoyance and frustration, then turned and took off after his mistress and Lotor, quickly flapping his wings around himself and then snapping them back again to transform back into his smaller form, his wings rapidly reducing to their smaller shape. The three quickly reached and boarded the ship, which immediately blasted off the ground.

"You guys okay?!" Lance's voice called from Red's loudspeakers.

"We're fine," Keith replied as he and the others got back to their feet.

"Then get to your lions! Fast!" Lance said.

"Right!" Keith agreed, and the group ran for their lions.

"Care to join me, you three?" Allura called over her shoulder to Syaoran, Meilin, and Kero. Meilin gave a squee of delight and jogged after her, Syaoran and Kero following after, with Kero quickly flipping his wings around himself then pulling them back to reveal he'd returned to his own smaller form, his wings reverting to their tiny state. They all quickly boarded their lions, Allura with the two kids and familiar in tow. The five lions launched into the air, and Keith decided to go straight to the big guns. A brief moment later, and it was Voltron who was flying after the retreating command ship.

The ship fired at them, and Voltron nimbly dove around the lasers, then flew straight through the tower-like section atop the ship and out the other side. Voltron then flipped around and dropped kicked through the ship's side. Once finished with putting holes through the ship, Voltron snapped his hands together and formed the Blazing Sword before going after the ship one more time. With the sword in hand, Voltron slashed through the ship right up the middle, the densest area. Once he'd left the ship again, it proceeded to ignite into flames, plummeting back down and smashing into the main Spa Resort building, the whole thing burning down rapidly. As the ship plummeted, a single small craft shot out of it and into space. The evil Prince, witches, and familiars had escaped again.

"They really like ruining our birthday parties, don't they?" Lotor grumbled.

"And we didn't even get to try your cake!" Sakura roared, then noticed that Spinner was floating quietly, yet trembling, his head lowered. "You okay?" she asked. Cova gave a concerned yowl toward his fellow familiar. Spinner remained quiet for a moment, then popped his head up, his face filled with rage.

"THIS ISN'T OVER YET, YOU HEAR ME, YOU OLD CODGER!" he screamed loudly, surprising the rest. "I'M GOING TO BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU!" Lotor couldn't help but smirk.

"Did someone just find their one true rival?" he asked. Sakura, though, was still grumbling, incensed by it all.

"I don't get it, though, my dream was so clear," she muttered. "Pidge in his green outfit, Spinner next to him in conservation form. I know it was them! Sure they were in silhouette, but it was still. . ." And then her blood froze. The new familiar, Kero, while in his small form, could easily be mistaken for Spinner in his own small form whilst in silhouette, and the boy mage, the self proclaimed "sorcerer", had been wearing a shirt that was. . .

"GAHH! STUPID, INACCURATE, USELESS FORESIGHT MAGIC!" she screamed as the horrible truth hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh, just realized that, did you?" Haggar commented. "Now you know why I've always insisted on teaching proper interpretation techniques."

Lotor, his ears ringing from all of the shouting, piloted the ship steadily, taking them back to Galra.

Back on Walbrane, Voltron returned to the ground, and the team and their new friends quickly found where all of the stolen treasure from the wrecked ship had been placed, the large chest they'd taken to Lotor having been moved while they were otherwise occupied by the party to be included with the rest. They then reclaimed that chest, as well as locating the other one from planet Clow, and loaded them onto Syaoran and Meilin's spacecraft. Voltron and the Clow ship then launched back into space. With all the chaos caused by the party and subsequent destruction of the Resort building, as well as some prisoners escaping from the citywide labyrinthine prison, the local guards and other personnel were far too preoccupied to stop them.

In space, as they departed the Walbrane system, the Voltron Force called up the two kids on their video communicator system.

"Well, that was quite the day," Keith stated. "I hope you guys weren't too shaken up by it all."

"Are you kidding?!" Meilin exclaimed, smiling broadly. "We got to beat up a bunch of Doom creeps, make a fool out of Prince Lotor himself, and got to go for a ride in the Voltron!" She shot her fists into the air. "BEST...ADVENTURE...EVER!"

"And we got the stolen treasure back, too," Syaoran added with a calmer smile. "So, bonus."

"And the whole 'almost getting blown up on giant ass fireworks' part?" Hunk asked, unable to help being amused by Meilin's carefree attitude about it all.

"Yeah, would have been nice if someone had opted to help us out a little sooner on that one," Syaoran glanced significantly at Kero, who was happily fluttering in the air between the two kids.

"Ah, I told you already the conditions weren't exactly ideal," Kero waved it off. "You gotta learn to go with the flow sometimes, kid."

"You could have at least untied us," Meilin commented.

"The mouse had it covered," Kero replied. "Thanks to my brilliant diversionary tactics, I would add. Rule number one: Never underestimate even the smallest of assistants." In Blue, Platt popped up on Allura's shoulder, squeaking happily at the praise. "Sorry, pal. I don't speak rodent," Kero smiled.

"His name's Platt," Allura said. "So, I guess this is where we..." And then the system beeped to inform them of an incoming transmission just before an additional face was added to the screen. This was a woman easily in her mid to late thirties with dark grey eyes and ebony black hair tied into a high set pony tail going behind her back. This was in notable contrast to her porcelain skin and scarlet lips. Small gold disc earrings hung from her ears, and upon her head was a gold headpiece, a circlet with a rounded point at the top in the front, a circle engraved just below that point with a second circle engraved inside the first, and two six-inch fins coming out of the sides, each with two red gems hanging from them by gold strings, one at the tip and one at the midpoint. She wore, from what they could see as she was only visible from the chest up, a white Chinese-style hanfu with purple borders and a pink bodice. Her expression was stern.

The Voltron Force simply blinked in surprise, having no idea who this was, yet feeling a wave of immediate awe and respect. This was not a person to be trifled with. Kero and Meilin, on the other hand, just continued smiling, while Syaoran suddenly jumped to his feet, stiff as a board and looking as though in panic.

"Hey, Auntie Yelan," Meilin greeted the woman. "How are you?"

"Your Highness," Kero waved.

"Mother," Syaroan spoke. The Voltron Force blinked in surprise, again, but chose to remain silent for the moment.

"Syaoran, Meilin," Yelan said, her voice holding a no-nonsense tone to it. "Would you care to explain to me why you're currently in the Sun Tzu, which, according to the tracking device, is currently near the Walbrane system, one of Zarkon's holdings?" Syaoran looked like he was about to faint, and was only staying vertical out of sheer will power.

"We got the stolen treasures back!" Meilin exclaimed happily.

"And you said we'd be back before she even knew we were gone," Kero grinned at Syaoran.

"So, you went ahead and did what I strictly forbade, then?" Yelan stated more than asked, then batted her eyes around, as though noticing the other people currently on the line for the first time. "And you are?"

"Greetings, Queen Yelan. I am Princess Allura of planet Arus, and me and my comrades are the Voltron Force," Allura introduced herself, choosing to maintain diplomacy for the moment, quickly naming off the boys once again. "And as you can see, Your Majesty, your son and niece are perfectly okay and in full health, so everything's fine."

"Ah, so you did reactivate the ancient one," Yelan said. "I had hoped the rumors were just that, as only great fools would try to claim dominance over such a dangerous and powerful beast. It would seem you are still in control, though, for the moment." The Force stared confusedly at this comment, but Yelan continued onward. "And how did my fifth born and niece manage to bring you into their mischief, pray tell?"

"Actually, they didn't," Allura responded, and did a quick run through of the events of the day from receiving the SOS on Arus up to opening the first large treasure chest.

"I see," Yelan said when Allura finished, then arched an eyebrow.

"And? What happened next?" she asked, and her tone and the deadly look in her eye made it clear they were not to dance around the subject.

"A Doom battlecruiser turned up," Meilin chimed, and told her aunt about the group disguising themselves and actually going to planet Walbrane and coming face-to-face with Prince Lotor himself. "That reminds me, auntie, did you actually put a restraining spell of some kind on Syaoran?" Meilin asked.

"Yes, his powers were growing too fast in comparison to his maturity," Yelan answered, then stared pointedly at Kero. "I take it Zarkon's hag was present and let it slip?"

"You mean you weren't ever going to tell him?" Lance asked, a note of disbelief in his voice.

"Of course I was," Yelan said, "After he came of age. And my question wasn't answered."

"Oh, yeah, she was there," Meilin said. "And her apprentice."

"Is the apprentice anything to worry about?" Yelan inquired.

"Other than she's Syaoran's equal in power?" Kero stated, drawing a widening of the eyes reaction from Yelan.

"Oh, dear," she said. "A Galran with that level of power. . ."

"Actually, she's human!" Meilin chimed again. Yelan actually looked momentarily surprised at that one.

"And another annoying rumor turns out to be true," she sighed. "Unfortunate. Keroberos!"

"Yes?" Kero asked.

"Your assessment of Zarkon's primary mage," she ordered, and Kero actually hesitated for a moment, then slumped, all joy gone and replaced with seriousness.

"You and her are easily in the same league, and with her years she probably has a fair amount of experience on you," he stated. "I wouldn't want to be nearby if you two had it out, and wouldn't be willing to place any bets on it, either." Yelan stared a moment, then sighed.

"As I feared," she said.

"Wait," Syaoran suddenly loosened slightly. "Kero, before, you and Haggar, you said Sakura and I...mom, did I...have I...surpassed you?" Yelan's eyes widened again for a moment, then she gave another sigh.

"Yes, my son, you have," she replied. "I had wondered when you would notice. Now then, please tell me you got away undetected."

"Uh..." everyone else sweat dropped.

"Spill it," Yelan ordered.

"Yes, your majesty," Allura said, and went through a quick run through of the events in the meeting room and the "party" afterward. When she finished, Yelan closed her eyes, a look of agitation on her face, and rose a Chinese hand fan, or Tessenjutsu, to her temple.

"Oh, you imbeciles," she groaned. "All of you."

"Wait, is she including us in that?" Hunk asked.

"Yes," Yelan answered before anyone else could say anything. "Okay, clearly I'm going to have to make a call to Zarkon and smooth this over, though given what I know about him, I'll have to toss him and his brat a bone. We'll maintain our current neutrality, but anyone from Clow in or significantly near Galra space shall be 'fair game' to them." Syaoran's eyes widened in terror.

"Well, we're gonna be back home, so too bad for them," Meilin smiled.

"No, Meilin," Yelan said, lowering her Tessenjutsu, a calm smile filling her lips that nevertheless chilled all who saw it. "Princess Allura, I am hereby assigning Syaoran and Meilin as official liaisons of planet Clow to planet Arus, effective immediately." Syaoran slapped his hands to his face, while Meilin just gawped. And Kero began chortling merrily.

"For how long, your majesty?" Allura inquired.

"Indefinitely," Yelan answered. "I trust you can store the previously stolen treasures in your castle vault until arrangements for its return can be made?"

"Of course," Allura nodded.

"And before you two even start to think this means you get to use this as an indefinite vacation from your studies and training, I'll be sending Master Wei to Arus presently with all the necessary requirements," Yelan informed the two kids. "And additional wardrobe, of course."

Nuts, Meilin thought.

"Oh, man, you guys are so nailed!" Kero chortled aloud, getting far too much enjoyment out of it all.

"And Keroberos," Yelan said.

"Yes, my Queen?" Kero smiled at her.

"You're going with them," Yelan stated.

"WHAT?!" Kero screeched.

"We wouldn't want this 'Spinner Sun' to miss his chance at a rematch, now would we?" Yelan smiled again. "Stay safe, my son, Meilin. Farewell." And with that, Yelan's image blinked off the screen, followed by Syaoran flopping limply back into his seat, Kero dropping onto the back of the seat.

"Ah, man," Syaoran said.

"So," Meilin looked at the Voltron Force, pointing out the window at the empty expanse of space with a faux smile on her face, "Which way to planet Arus?"

"Just follow us," Keith instructed. "And sorry about this."

"Oh, please," Allura said. "Deliberately disobeying their Queen? His mother? They brought it on themselves."


And behold my new record for longest chapter I have ever written, 37 3/4 pages on Openoffice. I wasn't trying to get it this long, I swear.

But you know what? Worth it! Cause I finally got to introduce Syaoran, Meilin, and most importantly, Kero! Yes, the scene where he makes his 'fabulous' debut leading to the reveal of Spinner's true form in front of the V Force has been solidly in my head since day one, and I am just so glad to finally get to write it out! I do admit, though, that the reveal that he was actually doing it to keep the bad guys diverted while Platt was freeing the prisoners on the fireworks(which ironically weren't even ID'd as such in the Voltron dub) was a last second addition. And speaking of additions...

Pheada(Fay-da) and Jurgna(Jurg-na) are OCs who literally took on a life of their own on me. Part of the reason this chapter took an insanely long time to finish was that I had trouble completing the bridge into ep. 28, mostly because I kept trying to have them do other things at the spa before the opening scene of the episode, a.k.a. Lotor getting his massage, despite having never been to one myself and my limited research on wikipedia not really giving me any good ideas, and finally leading me to decide to just jump to the chase. However, by that point I'd had the idea of Sakura getting needled by two girls her own age in the sauna.

Originally they were going to be unnamed random girls who just happened to cross paths with her, and their original issue was going to be that Sakura had a towel on while they were basking in the sauna unashamedly nude. Ultimately I decided against it on the grounds of it maybe pushing things a little, and also because I couldn't come to a decision on what they were going to be talking about before turning their eyes on Sakura.

But even after I changed my mind, the core idea of the scene refused to abandon me, so I decided to throw towels on everyone, and just have them jab at Sakura for not being of the "upper class". And then, as I wrote it out, I suddenly gave them names...and made them King Zeta/Walbrane's granddaughters...and then they were in for the long haul. Oops.

Oh, well.

As to the end, yeah, in Golion King Walbrane did die, but now that I also had to decide about the two girls, I deliberately left their fates ambiguous. Also, originally I hadn't given much thought as to what if anything I was going to do with Syaoran, Meilin, and Kero after this, but then the idea to have them stay on permanently came to mind, leading to the creation of the last scene of the chapter, introducing Yelan properly and setting up the new 'status quo'. And, yeah, Anga's gonna stay on for the long haul, too. I couldn't justify killing her, and couldn't justify sending her home, so here she sits. And as to the episode itself.

Wow, this episode. First, between miscoloring Lance's uniform with Keith's coloring at one point, Lotor's statue completely changing its pose after coming off the ship and then losing its helmet right before it was destroyed, Zeta/Walbrane appearing on the command ship when Voltron is trashing it and then suddenly being in his castle when said ship smacked into it, and multiple cases in the sitting room brawl and the party of a serious case of mixed-up guard-itis, this thing had animation errors galore! And that's before the five issues I had to correct for.

First, the wrecked cargo ship, as described above, had holes in it big enough for the lions to fly into, yet the V Force and the later Galra soldiers just jog around inside it like there's air in there! And second, the doors to the treasure hold, as mentioned, were broken inward, yet nothing within was out of place, save for the few things the Honor Guards had fallen on. For the former, I had to get creative with the shields, and, yes, I'm aware the science is probably working against me on that one, and for the latter I just attributed it to Syaoran's magic and called it a day.

Speaking of passing the buck to the magic user, the third thing I felt the need to "correct" was the discarding of the disguises. In the episode, the team just toss the helmets and tear the HG uniforms off while Lotor is just standing there. Why didn't he lunge forward and run Keith through while Keith was freeing himself of the disguise?! So, yeah, took full advantage of Syaoran's presence for that one. The episode also never showed Lance escaping the underground prison after Platt got him out of the cell he fell into and making it back to Red undetected, so I filled in that as well.

And then there was biggest brain hurter of the episode – hiding red lion in the Lotor statue. You see, in the episode Lance "melts" his lion into the statue, so it's effectively hidden inside it. Okay, fine. But then, as noted in the story, Lance joins them for the HG subterfuge. How did he get out of red lion after hiding it in the statue?! How did he get back into it later?! GAH! Seriously, Toei, did no one there edit this script properly?! So, yeah, switched it to being hidden on the back of the statue with a borrowed cloaking device so it at least made some kind of sense. And, yes, I know the building it mostly takes place in was actually King Walbrane's castle in Golion, but by the time I realized that error I was nearly done with the chapter and didn't feel like bothering to correct it.

Well, enough grousing. Next we have the last robeast with any organics in it and the reveal of how the lions are actually fueled. And with luck, I can also include ep. 30 as well, the "Sleeping Beauty Gambit". There's something I actually want to do with that ep., I just hope I can. See ya.