"Alright," said Pidge while tapping on something right into the Altean control panel "We've got some major developments"
"Question." Lance raised his hand "Is this the type of science that can smash, burn and or explode things?"
"Yes"
"Eyes on Pidge cadets, this is the good stuff"
"Hey! It's all good stuff"
"No no no no, of course, absolutely, please, please, continue" he said making Keith snort.
Pidge sent him a small glare before continuing "Hunk and I have been working to enhance the lions' combat capabilities with a round of pretty sweet upgrades, by tying each of our Voltcom powers to the lions eachselves, like with our bayard, we have been able to customize a weapon to each lions' tail"
Lance and Daniel whistled.
"Super cool right?" agreed Hunk "In your case Keith, a tail shok."
"For Allura we've got a freeze and water ray"
"Precision laser and fire for Red"
"Demolition tail for Yellow"
"And for Pidge and Green -"
"Boomerblades" they interrupted with a -maybe kinda scary- grin on their face.
The cadets stared, waiting.
"Aand?" asked Daniel.
Hunk came to the realization first "Oh, well, for now -"
"We're focusing on the official, working, team only" explained Pidge.
"Honestly," continued Hunk "We haven't even fully tested it -"
"I volunteer to test mine" interrupted Lance, getting an amused look from Keith and unamused one from Allura and an irritated one from Pidge "Now's good for me"
The alarms started blaring as if on cue.
Pidge, still on the main control panel, went straight the cameras.
"We've got an impeding fractal" they announced "Activating defenses -"
"Wait!" when did Hunk got behind them? "We're getting a-"
"A distress call?" finished Pidge for them.
They answered and on the screen appeared...
"Coran?" gasped Allura
"Wade… stop..." The man passed out before being able to mutter another word.
The call was cut and the pod crashed next to the castle. Everyone rushed out.
There was some fire. Hunk, Pidge and the cadets rushed to get water while Keith, Lance and Allura got Coran out of the pod.
"Easy..." said Allura.
"That was quite the bad crash." noted Lance, while helping put him down.
"Don't worry, we'll get you to the healing po-"
"No!" Coran interrupted Keith "You will take me to the control room immediately"
"Absolutely not!" shrieked Allura "The briefing can wait your health is a priority"
"Princess, I'm afraid there are far more lives at stake than my own"
Huffing and unhappy, they took him to the control room. In all honesty, he seemed quite well for someone who had just had a bad crash.
"It's Wade, he's taken control of the Alliance and is already preparing his next assault." the reactions varied from getting tense to gasps to murmurs "Fortunately, his army is still small but if we're to keep it that way Wade's secret base on Tarvols must be destroyed, if not, he'll be able to create a force so numerous I fear Voltron itself might be powerless against it"
"Ha, I'd like to see that," commented Daniel arrogantly, owning himself a glare from the adults "Or, I wouldn't, which is why we should, you know… stop it"
"Alright." said Keith pinching the bridge of his nose "Thanks to Coran's early warning this should be a straight forward job"
"Then it would be alright to bring the cadets along," mused Lance "With a threat as this probably Lotor lurking out there they could use a soft mission to get up to speed"
"Actually," said Allura "I don't think the cadets are the only ones that could use some training, it's been a while since we've worked as a fivesome, I suggest we take this opportunity to, shake the rust off as you earthlings say" Hunk and Pidge nodded in agreement.
"Team rebonding it is"
"What about the cadets then?" mused Keith.
"Don't worry about us" said Daniel immediately "I'm sure we can find ways to keep busy" he winked at the other cadets.
"Real smooth, ain't he?" whispered Lance to Keith, who tried not to laugh "Nice try, but I'd like the castle to still be here when we get back"
"Coran is in charge" seconded Keith "Assuming he's feeling up it?"
"Much better already! Don't worry," he said standing up "I'll take care of the lads"
Daniel groaned.
They got to the moon quite quickly, and landed smoothly.
"Hu, it's quiet." noted Hunk.
"Still, no reason to take chances" said Pidge.
"No reason to be subtle either," seconded Keith "Want to make this team bonding official?" Lance snorted.
They flew and formed Voltron.
Once formed missiles were instantly sent to them. Quite the greeting. A laser straight to the face.
"Pidge shield!" ordered Keith.
"Can't when we're already eating the laser!" they complained.
"Guess it stopped being quiet" commented Allura.
"I thought this place was supposed to be abandoned?" groaned Lance.
"It must be an automated defense system" theorized Hunk.
"So it's got defenses" said Keith "We'll just need greater offenses"
They moved, getting away from the laser and Keith formed the sword. They started crashing the place, Pidge's now formed shield protecting them from the lasers.
Lance laughed "Hacking a moon base with a sword, this is the stuff I missed"
Vince was tinkering with something (Daniel wasn't sure what but he had a guess) on his desk. He, on the other hand, was lying on the top of the bunk bed.
"Not saying a roommate isn't great, it just isn't exactly private you know? Specially if the fab five are never going to leave us alone without a royal babysitter"
Vince chuckled "You wanna trade problems? At least you've got a working Voltcom"
"I'm thinking we need a secret HQ, kinda like the den, but cooler… the cave, no, better, the lair," he sat up on the bed "We can even have our own logo!" he jumped off and walked to his own desk with paper and pen in hand.
He didn't notice when Vince groaned and seemed to lose himself in another world, much less the soft what? that escaped his lips.
"Behold my friend!" he said turning the page "The unbelievable coolness that is the lair" it was the drawing of the head of a lion, it wasn't that bad. "Vince?" the mentioned was going out "What are you-?" the door closed behind him. So of course he ran after him "Hey! Vince!" and crashed into him, who in turn crashed into Coran.
"Huh?" said Vince "Coran! I'm so sorry" both steen got back up "I don't know what happened"
"It's alright, but perhaps you young lads shouldn't go running around the castle, we wouldn't want more injuries, now would we?"
"Absolutely" said Daniel.
"Yeah, sorry" seconded Vince.
Coran walked away.
"See? This is exactly why we need the lair"
"I'm in" said Vince without hesitation.
"Really?" Daniel was actually kinda surprised "That was easy"
"I guess there are a few things I'd like to keep secret too" he murmured.
"We could really use Larmina on this one," mused Daniel "She knows this castle's secret passages better than anyone, think she'll be up for it?"
"Definitely" she responded from the ceiling.
"You know that's incredibly creepy, right?" said Vince.
"Creepy like a ninja" she retorted "I'm always honing my stealthy stalking skills" she let herself fall, doing a somersault to fall on her feet "Gotta stay sharp"
"So now you're stalking me," said Daniel smugly, he sighed "The way the ladies just throw themselves at me, kinda sad really"
Larmina ignored his commed "Just give me a minute to grab my Voltcom before we hit the catacombs"
"Expecting trouble?" asked Daniel.
She chuckled "You two are gonna be there right?" she walked away.
"Well, she's bringing hers" shrugged Daniel.
The moon shook under their feet.
"The lunar core destabilizes," explained Pidge "If we leave it alone the entire moon should collapse on itself"
"Couldn't we give it a few more wacks anyway?" asked Lance.
They received a call that answered itself.
"I wouldn't advise it, unless you're in a hurry to seal your dear friend's fate" it was Wade.
The screen showed them then their friend, tied up to the ceiling, apparently. They gasped.
"Coran!" shrieked Allura.
"Trapped in the belly of the base you might say, if only there was a foolishly brave souls nearby to attempt such dangerous possibly suicidal rescue mission"
"Wade" growled Keith "This was a setup from the beginning, you were never coming back to this base, you wanted us here!"
"So the great commander Keith's sharp military wit is just figuring that out now?" he giggled "You'll have to be quicker than that if you don't cant Coran's demise on your hands" the call ended.
"I don't know how much longer the moon has" said Hunk, the floor crumbling under around them.
"We'll have to split up and go inside, we'll be walking right into Wade's trap but I don't see any other option"
"Agreed" said Allura "Whatever's in there I'm not abandoning Coran"
"Good, but one question," said Lance "How do we know that's the real Coran?"
"Another question," followed Hunk "If this is the real Coran, the who did we leave with the kids?"
Oh quiznak, they thought.
Larmina ran through the catacombs, followed by the boys.
"Hey Larmina! Slow down!" yelled Daniel, trying to keep up "We didn't grow up in this place!"
"What? Mister speedy pants can't keep up?"
She groaned when she crashed into something, or rather someone. She fell back, crashing into the boys, all ending on the floor.
"Coran?" she said standing up.
"You shouldn't be down here. You have no business in here."
"Of course," excused Vince "We're sorry, never gonna happen again"
Daniel glared at him "So, what's your business down here?"
"Daniel" scolded Vince.
"You're crossing the line cadet," continued Larmina "Coran has earned the respect we give him."
"No, I'm honestly curious, a couple hours ago you were so weak you couldn't stay conscious at the controls of the fractal and now you're exploring the catacombs?"
"Yeah." seconded Vince "It's a little weird."
"True. But of course there's a very simple explanation" he said just before moving incredibly fast and throwing them away with a powerful kick. He began running away.
Larmina was the first to get back up, activating her Voltcom and attacking Coran, who grew a blade from his arm to retaliate.
Next was Daniel, with his Voltcom activated he hurried to assist Larmina, who was blocking the blade.
"Who are you you freak?" snapped Larmina.
"Larmina, darling, is that anyway to speak to your dearest royal adviser?"
"Don't you speak with his voice" she growled.
She got a clean hit to his face, breaking part of it, and revealing the robotic insides. The kids gasped and the robot shot Vince with a laser, smashing him into a wall and leaving him unconscious.
The lions walked through the hallways of the base.
"I can't reach the cadets" said Allura nervously "If we left them alone with one of Wade's twisted machines -"
"They're tough kids," interrupted Lance "They can handle themselves in a fight, we have got our own Wade problems"
"Anybody else feeling like we're being stalked?" asked Hunk.
"Well chosen word tech sergeant," said Wade through the speakers.
"That's not on the monitors" informed Pidge.
"Where is it?" asked Lance.
"This here is my lair," said Wade "You were coming to my playground and I could already smell my pray"
"He's controlling the base remotely" said Pidge.
They heard a sound and immediately stopped, saving the lions from being burned, they retreated a bit. From the floor emerged razors that cut through it and chased them. Lasers activated and started firing.
"Straight forward job huh" growled Allura.
Hunk used Yellow's tail to destroy the razors, while Allura stopped the fire with a water stream from Blue's. The others destroyed the lasers.
"Maintain constant contact," said Keith "Wade has the element of surprise here, so we're gonna have to watch each others backs"
"Like old times" snorted Lance.
"Sorry," said Wade "My hunt, my rules"
From the walls big mechanical arms stretched out and grabbed the lions, managing to drag Red and Blue to somewhere else.
"Lance!" called Keith.
"These missions used to be easier." complained Hunk.
Vince groaned and slowly got back up. He looked around and found Daniel and Larmina fighting the robot.
He did some somersaults to get away, did a split to keep himself above using the walls and stroke back to the kids, who seemed to have some difficulties.
"This is crazy!" said Daniel "Who sent a robot to kill us?"
"Nobody you thiheed!" retorted Larmina "He must have some other mission a-and we're just in the way"
"I've got an idea!" said Vince putting on his self-edited watch "Tryna hold him!"
"Try to hold him!?" croaked Daniel "You call that an idea?!"
Vince screamed as he threw himself to the robot from behind, getting him in a shock hold, he did his best to connect his watch to the robot from his exposed area, and he barely managed. The robot threw him away but Vince had already managed to get something. He checked his watch.
"He's got some kinda bomb! If he plants it in the correct destination spot he can blow down the whole castle!"
"What?!" shrieked Daniel.
"Quiznak!" seconded Larmina.
"You heard the boy" said the robot, it's voice distorted. It ran away through a wall.
"Vince come on!" Daniel ran after the robot, along with Larmina. But Vince didn't follow.
He gasped when he heard a strange voice echo in his head, his eyes glowing. He walked away.
"Quiznak!" cursed Allura.
She was in a pit, at the bottom was fire. Blue tried to at least slowdown the fall by digging it's claws to the walls, it wasn't doing much but it was at least something. They managed to stop the fall for only a moment, which was enough the make a whole on the wall and escape.
She heard the sound of a lion walking to her but when she turned she didn't find a friend, but a lion that looked much like the one from before except smaller and it was rusty.
It immediately jumped to her and pinned her down.
They ran through a hallway.
"Pidge can you locate Lance or Allura?" asked Keith.
"The planetary convulsions are wreaking havoc with longer range communications but they're both still moving."
"Good. Let's keep a tight formation let's not let Wade separate us too."
As if on cue they encountered three identical lions, gray and rusty but smaller than the one they fought in Altea.
"What are these things?" shrieked Hunk.
"I've seen them before." said Keith "Leftovers from Wade's experiments on Black. Pidge your upgrades better be as good as advertised."
"We haven't fully tested them!" they roared.
Who knows if Keith heard, he was busy falling through the floor with the three gray lions.
The fall separated them. They growled at Keith.
"Try it." he growled back.
They jumped to him but where thrown back away by a laser.
Red landed right next to Black.
Lance sighed smugly "Guess I'm still pretty good at this team work thing"
A lion got back up, but Black dealt with them using it's tail before they could do anything.
"Me too."
A gray lion fell a their feet (or paws?).
"Just like old times, right?" said Allura.
"Ah, teamwork is so touching." said Wade "But don't you have more urgent business? I don't think this base has much longer, and neither does Coran"
"Guess we're splitting now again." said Keith.
"You're still okay Allura?"
"I'm fine, just worry about Coran"
They ran in different directions.
Vince found himself in the old room that Daniel had found the day Wade attacked Altea.
"Why?" he breathed "Why me?"
"Because," said the voice "You were born to do it"
The robot kept running and attacking the kids.
"I hate robots!" snapped Larmina.
"Really? Cuz you know you'll pilot a -?"
"You know what I mean!"
"King Alfor?" gasped Vince when he saw the specter.
"There is much to teach you, much power to unlock but I fear the threat to the castle of lions leaves us little time"
"I already know about the robot and his bomb, what do I do to stop -?"
"No, you misunderstand, the robot is the bomb"
"What?"
"What is it doing?" asked Larmina when they saw the robot stop. It's eye glowing.
"I'm pretty sure something bad"
The place was falling apart. Black ran while avoiding the pieces falling. Then stopped.
"If anyone can hear me," said Keith to the com "I've got a visual of Coran inbound"
"Already approaching" responded Lance.
"Almost there!"
"He's got a mutated lion on a keep ready to fire!"
"Then fire away I'm right on him!"
Red crashed the gray lion and Black did so too a tick later managing to tear the thing into two. They didn't notice the ceiling falling on them, immobilizing the lions. They ignored that though, they got immediately off to get to Coran.
"Almost there." said Keith slowly helping him stand up.
"Are you alright?" Lance helped too.
"I'm fine I was never Wade's target you shouldn't have come for me."
"Nah, we're actually pretty espectacular rescuers or we would be if some of us were as good at taking orders as we are giving them."
"When I tell you I'm close I-"
The station trembled again.
"Alright, trapped under debris inside a wreck in a moon that's about to implode" noted Lance as if they had somehow forgotten "You and me stuff can probably wait."
The robot digged itself to the floor.
"The robot is the bomb" said Larmina.
"And is getting ready to detonate. Go!"
Larmina tried his damnest best to get close to the robot, who kept launching missiles and other stuff at her. Daniel kept watching her back, protecting her of those she hadn't noticed. Yet they couldn't get closer to the thing.
"I-I don't understand. This power you're talking about? All I'm getting so far is headaches and Voltcom freak outs, how is that supposed to stop a robotic Coran bomb?"
"I can't show you everything, this journey is yours alone, but a can help you on to the path." he signaled to something that was there on the stage. It was a small, blue and silver, decorative lion head. He took it and it made him feel something.
"Wow"
"Looks like time's almost up." said Lance.
"I'll blast an opening in the rubble, if you time your jump right you can slip out with Red and Coran before the debris collapses back in."
"And leaving you stuck here when the moon rips apart?"
"You have any other ideas?"
"Same idea except I shoot and you jump with Coran, my tail upgrade is a faster way to fire."
"My tail has more raw power."
Lance groaned "Are we really arguing over who makes the noble sacrifice?"
"Only if you don't let me do it."
They were so busy glaring at each other they barely noticed most of the room literally freezing.
"What is -?" asked Coran.
"Allura!" called Lance.
"It's okay!" said Pidge.
"We've got your back." seconded Hunk.
"Eventually." murmured Lance.
Coran ended up in Blue with Allura. The lions ran for the exit, avoiding and destroying as much dubris as possible.
"You're not going to make it lions. I can feel Tarvols' cracking"
Well Wade was wrong and they were going to show him. It didn't took long for them to make it to the exit and flee. Except for Keith. Who got a debris to the head and fell back. It was truly fortunate that Hunk was so close and that Black got to bite Yellow's tail, which was ultimately what saved him from truly falling back and get trapped in the explosion.
They may have enjoyed seeing the moon explode.
"So," said Keith "Team bonding."
"Yeah," followed Lance "That felt good."
"You were right Lance," said Coran "It was an espectacular rescue. But how did you know I was in there?"
"We have to get back to the castle." Allura reminded them, anxious.
They just couldn't with the damn robot.
Larmina and Daniel were both on the floor.
"Can't stop it!" he grumbled.
"Vince!?" said Larmina.
He was standing there, oddly calm.
"Where have you been?" asked Daniel.
"Only I can save them." said Vince to himself, eyeing the blue head lion in his hand. Without hesitation, he logged it to his Voltcom. It immediately started glowing blue.
"We have to take cover!" said Daniel "Vince!"
Larmina was first to notice between the two. Somehow Vince was moving parts of the castle and placing them around the robot, locking it in.
When the ticking reached its highest and fastest Daniel threw himself over his friends screaming Down.
Yet the explosion didn't reach them.
A quick glance to the grumble meters from them and back to his friend.
"Vince? Buddy." he asked getting off his friends.
"What did you do?"
"I'm not sure." they got up and Vince got a look at where the robot had been "But it was awesome." he then noticed a room that had been hidden behind a -now broken- wall "What's that?"
"I-I don't know, I've never seen that door, or that room before."
"Secret room, huh?" said Daniel obviously getting an idea.
Larmina and Vince shared a knowing look.
"Larmina!" called Allura, running into the control room.
"Daniel!" called Lance "Vince!"
"Hey there," greeted Daniel "How was your day?"
"The -" started Allura.
"Robot?" finished Larmina.
"Taken care of." explained Vince.
The adults sighed in relief. Coran walked to the kids energetically.
"Hello, I believe we haven't been formally introduced." he stretched out his hand for a handshake.
"Yeah, ah, nice to meet eh, the you you" Vince took it.
"So you got a little training after all." gigled Lance.
"Oh, we learned all kinds of new things." said Daniel, sharing a look with his friends.