There's always calm after the storm, after having reinforced the defences, life continued with relative calm, after all, they were always ready for the next attack.
Classes for the cadets continued, without crazy shenanigans for now, after all, even they understood the gravity of their last stunt, even if they would rather not deal with the consequences. They really didn't like cleaning duty.
It was one of those extra tranquil days that a friendly ship arrived.
As requested, Acxa, Veronica, Ezor, Zethrid and Krolia, had arrived as soon as possible for them. Having been briefed they went straight to business.
"So far they only seem interested in Altea and Voltron, and, to be honest, I don't want a conflict on the scale of the past war, nor the panic that it would cause, after all, it really hasn't been that long," said Allura.
"Word needs to come out still, although their sight might be set on Altea right now, we know too little about this new threat, we cannot let our allies be ignorant of this, leaving them unprotected," explained Allura.
"We can talk to our allies, let them know the situation so they can prepare, but also insist they keep it secret; for now. This all will end up coming out, whether we want it or not but maybe we can help the general population avoid the extra stress," added Veronica.
Zethrid spoke next "Still, I think we should have the general public know, they could still put themselves in danger due to ignorance, even if they have others secretly protecting them."
Ezor nodded in agreement.
"What about having some rumours scattered?" inquired Lance "People will notice the changes anyway, they will start their own rumours, so why not let the truth be the first?"
"It isn't a secret that Altea has already been attacked anyway," seconded Keith. "That's how we protected ourselves from the consequences of reactivating Voltron"
Lance continued "Yeah, there must be some rumours about what's happening already."
After talking more specifics and agreeing on a general plan for how to proceed, everyone decided to relax and take the day.
Lunch was a big affair.
A table had been filled to the brim with food and beverage for everyone to eat together.
"So," Krolia said with a small smile, studying the children with her gaze "Cadets?"
"How come you didn't tell us about this?" complained playfully Ezor, seated between Pidge and Zethrid.
"I knew," declared Veronica "Lance told me."
"I knew too," seconded Acxa "Veronica told me."
Ezor and Zethrid stared at their friends with betrayal. This was important news! Why had nobody had the decency to tell them?
"So?" repeated Krolia.
The cadets felt a little awkward, all in all, these were important figures deeply connected to Voltron, yet not even Larmina had formally met them. Allura was happy to make the introductions.
"This is my niece, Larmina, and you'll find that she excels in physical activities such as acrobatics," she helped Larmina take the seat next to herself and then moved to the next "This is Vince, he had very strange abilities that we're still exploring,"
"His eyes glow sometimes," added Keith casually, earning the kid's confusion and looks of interest.
Vince sat next to Larmina.
"And this is Daniel, a fast learner of inquisitive nature," she sat him next to Vince.
"And a natural leader," said Lance "Although he tends to lead the little group to mischief more than anything, still, he is a good kid." Keith nodded in agreement.
"Seems fun, but how does this all work anyway?" asked Ezor "You brought the kids but aren't the lions the ones who choose their pilots?"
"Well, we were looking for cadets anyway," mused Allura "Whether the lions chose them or not wasn't that important. New Altea is still rebuilding itself, and I want to teach the young the old ways, so they won't be lost forever. Then Destiny made Lance meet and bring Vince and Daniel, and we discovered soon enough that the lions would let them pilot them."
"Which can be a little inconvenient but, overall, a good thing," finished Lance, then he snorted, remembering their first little adventure "In fact let me tell you about -"
The rest of the meal was spent sharing stories, at first, focused on the cadets, embarrassing them from time to time but also letting them add their own two cents, then, to the kid's excitement, it was time to share the adult's old adventures. From how they ended up as paladins, to how they got Kaltenecker the First, how Keith and Krolia reunited and many more memories.
"And he goes 'I'd recognize that mullet anywhere'," mocked Pidge "Which is like, the worst excuse ever."
Keith chortled "Why hadn't I been told about this," he laughed even more at Lance's flushed face "That just makes everything even funnier."
The cadets listened in delight. They were getting these stories from the source material! It was awesome!
Keith kept mocking Lance, imitating him as he said "'You know? Lance and Keith, neck and neck'"
"How do you even remember that?" screeched Lance.
"How could I not?"
Snickering, Hunk told Daniel "Don't let Keith scold you over your little shenanigans, he was pulling worst stunts from the beginning,"
"Hey!" complained Keith.
"Give the kid some slack," laughed Pidge "You were the one that was kicked out of-"
"Shiro was so angry," he put his face in his hands.
"Don't worry Keith, I'll scold him for you," said Lance with a smile and a wink, making the others laugh.
They stayed almost hours after finishing eating just to keep talking.
Of course, their guests didn't leave immediately and stayed for a couple of days, though they tried to not disrupt much of the normalcy of their daily lives.
Lance invited them to help him in some of the classes, noting that they would definitely have useful things to teach the cadets, be it theory or practice. They also worked with the other on more planning and investigating the purple matter.
They had also started to work with only Vince, to help test his strange abilities and help him develop them, though, during this time, they wouldn't leave the other two to their own devices, yet, having been rebuilding the lost trust from their last stunt, they were given back a little more freedom.
So of course they would use it again. After all, just assisting Vince's training from the castle was boring.
After having formed Voltron, with Vince accompanying Keith in the Black Lion, they would have him try to use his newfound special powers, which, apart from having unlocked new weapons, could recharge Voltron's energy to its max, and, in light of such news, there must be more o uncover.
All this while fighting the fake fiends they created for training purposes.
It was still a work in progress…
Pidge tried to contact Daniel and Larmina, who were supposed to be in the castle's defences to provide backup. But there was no response, which was a problem since Voltron was starting to run out of energy. They had been at this for a while.
Later, Daniel and Larmina were found messing around with the smaller draining dummies. "Watching is boring" had been their excuse, along with other minor complaints.
Needles to say, the responsible adults had been infuriated.
Allura had never been so close to smacking Larmina on the head.
Lance and Keith dealt with Daniel.
Glaring down at the kid, Keith scolded, "Before you make decisions that affect the team you need to learn to be a team player."
Lance followed "Daniel, I try to make training fun but this isn't a game"
The guests watched with varying degrees of amusement.
Most left the adults to scold their kids, but after watching for what felt like an hour, Krolia stood between Lance and Keith, each hand on their shoulders, and, on Daniel's behalf, said, "I think that's enough for today,"
"Mom"
"I think the kid understands your points, give them some time to reflect,"
Knowing to never miss an opportunity, Daniel nodded in agreement, and when his guardians decided to let him go, he rushed past Allura and Larmina and out of the room.
They would talk later.
Finally down in their little liar, Larmina sighed loudly.
"Sometimes my aunt can be so annoying,"
"I can't believe Lance and Keith are giving me lectures on teamwork," he sat up from where he was resting on the stairs, "Those two are always arguing,"
"Well, at least we have a secret place to complain about them,"
"Yeah, but I can't help but feel that we could be using the liar for something more important than a whine whole,"
"Welp," said Vince "I'm going to be spending a lot of time down here trying to figure out how to control my powers," he kept tinkering with his Voltcom, he groaned "I can't believe I let everyone down today"
Daniel, "Must be though being the golden boy,"
Larmina "Jealousy doesn't look good on you,"
Daniel turned to her, mildly offended "I'm not jealous, I just-"
"Look, Daniel, I didn't choose this power, it chose me,"
"Aand, you're sounding more and more like my aunt,"
The discussion continued the next day, out of the liar and having breakfast on their own, it started to sound more like an argument in comparison to the day before.
"Yeah sure, so Vince is cool now, but like, why can't we pilot the lions once in a while?" complained Daniel "You have your role magic man, but where do Larmina and I fit into this puzzle?"
"Destiny is unfolding," argued Vince back "We need patience"
"There you go again, Aunt Allura,"
"I mean, just cuz you have aunty issues-"
Daniel groaned loudly "All of our issues boil down to five lions and eight pilots,"
"Even if there are eight pilots the paladins are still only five," interrupted Acxa.
The kids jumped in surprise, not expecting someone else to suddenly appear and give their opinion. Daniel pouted.
Acxa and Veronica were there, the latter softly hit the former with her elbow as if to scold her.
"You are being prepared to become paladins, but not yet, not without your own workable team, even if the lions have shown that they are open to you to pilot them, that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll choose you as their paladins, though that isn't likely. And due to the nature of how Voltron teams work, the paladins can't just leave for you to take their place, you are only three, there must be five paladins, and even if some of them were to leave, you all would have to from cero again, trying to make a team that is capable of forming Voltron and be functional." explained Acxa "As for Vince, he is still an unknown variable, and although his powers seem to be good for Voltron, too little is known of them, which is dangerous for everyone, even Vince himself."
"Alright, that's enough explaining," said Veronica "What you need is some fun, a relaxing and entertaining afternoon. I actually talked to Lance, and he'll let you have today free for you to do as you wish, but I think I have an idea." she smiled smugly.
"I still don't get why we haven't had Pidge and Hunk make something to do the cleaning for us," complained Lance, as he, along with Allura, cleaned the old pods "Or have these things wash themselves, I don't know,"
"I've found that I find cleaning to be rather, therapeutic, for me,"
Lance sighed in defeat, with nothing much to say to that. So they continued cleaning in relative silence, Allure humming old altean songs, until they were interrupted by a loud and short scream, Hunk from the kitchen.
"Should we-?" asked Allura.
Lance stretched in a hurry "I'll check on him, you continue," and left.
A little hesitant, Allura went back to cleaning the inside of the pod. Suddenly, it closed, locking her inside it, she was about to scream for help when she was frozen in stasis.
When Lance arrived at the kitchen it looked absolutely disgusting, the floor and walls painted with the edible green goo. Hunk was on the floor, bathed in it, he was glaring at the ceiling. Zethrid sat at the table, her face green and unamused.
"I guess a malfunction?" asked Lance.
"I've never felt such a strong sense of deja vu, and I don't think I like it."
Allura was freed from the pod by Ezor, who caught the shaking princess in her arms.
"Wow, what happened?" she asked.
"Pod… locked…Probable...malfunction..."
"Don't you do some maintenance once in a while?"
"Not...sure...usually...Coran...care of...it..."
"Alright, let's go get you warmed up and then go ask Coran."