Chapter 5
A/N: hey guys, welcome back! Good to see ya'll again. Hope ya'll're enjoying the story so far, I know I am. So anyways, I just own my OCs and the story, nothing else is mine.
Keith gripped his controls tightly as he felt the ground shake from the force of the blast from the ion cannon made impact onto the glowing forcefield now surrounding the Castle. Already he could see parts of it flicker for a moment, and it didn't take a genius to realize that it wouldn't be long before that shield gave way.
Hunk, on the other hand, seemed to be focused on something else. /Man, those guys repair things fast/
Thankfully Pidge seemed to be on the same page Keith was on, /That barrier gets weaker with every blast. Once it goes down the Castle will be defenseless!/
/We can give you cover with the Castle defenses for a short period of time/ Allura confirmed, /But you must form Voltron now or we'll all be destroyed!/
Well, not like they already knew how to form Voltron. No pressure or anything.
/Listen up Team Voltron, the only way we're going to succeed is to give it all we got!/ Shiro said. /This may look bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?!/
Keith gave a curt nod. Even if they couldn't form Voltron itself, there was still likely a way to bring down the ship. Afterall, every ship had some sort of firepower or weapons, so these ones had to have some too.
/I nodded, did everyone else nod?/
/Yes Hunk/ the rest of them muttered.
/Then let's do this!/ Shiro said.
Shoving his controls forwards, the Red Lion lunged forwards. The ship shook as it charged across the ground, moving through the barrier with relative ease. Blaster fire began to reign around them and Keith moved his lion through, throwing quick glances to the foreign controls. He needed to get this thing airborne if he wanted to really do anything—even if all he knew how to do right at the moment was ram the fighters with his ship.
/So, uh, does anyone know hoe we're supposed to do this?/ Lance inquired.
/Yeah, I'm not seeing a 'combine into giant robot' button/
/This is insane!/ Pidge exclaimed as her lion skid along the ground after taking a hit. /Can't they just cease fire for a minute so we can figure this out?/
"Pidge, this isn't football," Keith admonished.
/What?! It's not too much to ask!/
"You just can't call a timeout in war! So yes, it's too much to ask!" he argued. Pulling Red to a stop, he glared down at the controls, gritting his teeth as he looked at the foreign symbols. Of course these things were programmed in ancient Altean, after being out of commission for a few thousand years it made sense that the language systems weren't updated, but he needed modern Altean.
For a moment, Keith considered summoning his ghost to fix the issue. However, he was soon reminded on why that was a bad idea at the present moment.
/COMBINE!/
Red shook around him as something rammed into the lion's side, sending them rolling along the ground. Keith grunted as his side hit one of the consoles before he was knocked from his chair. Various parts of his body ached as he rose back to his feet, quickly leaping back into his chair.
/So that didn't work/ Hunk muttered.
Keith glared in the general direction of the Yellow Lion. "Hey! You know these things don't have seatbelts right?!"
/Sorry/
Keith didn't bother to acknowledge the apology as he watched the next ion blast hit the flickering forcefield. Their time was running out, fast, they needed to bring this ship down.
Looking down at the controls, Keith pushed them forwards and up. Red shifted and leapt into the air, and Keith felt a slight jerk, meaning that the engines had kicked in. Good, at least now that he was airborne the odds of bringing this thing down were better.
Ships fired at him and Keith dove down, out of the way of the blaster fire before pulling up before hitting the ground, smirking as he watched one of the fighters chasing him crash behind him. But that still left two on his tail. Hitting the thrusters, Keith smirked as the lion sped up. Weaving through the blaster fire, he pulled up into a loop and put himself behind the ships chasing him. His thumb brushed a control and Keith glanced at one of the screens, his brows rising as he noticed the schematic showing the jaw moving. A wide grin slowly came to his face, this was going to be fun.
As if sensing his excitement, Red shot forwards, and they began to gain on the Galra fighters. Getting close enough to one, Keith hit the controls, allowing the lion's jaws to clamp down onto the fighter's wing. Pulling on the levers, he smirked as he watched the ship go flying through the air into another fighter, not the fighter he was aiming for, but it was better than nothing.
/Quickly Paladins, our defenses won't hold much longer!/ Allura exclaimed.
Well, this battle would be easier if the controls were legible and the only available weapon wasn't just a bite.
/Maybe if we fly in formation we'll just combine?/ Shiro suggested. Though he didn't sound too sure.
But, it was a better plan than nothing.
The others managed to pull their lions from the ground and Keith flew over to meet them, taking his position on Shiro's right as they flew towards the Galra warship.
Nothing was happening.
/Hey! I think I feel something!/ Lance perked up.
Keith raised a brow, he didn't feel anything other than feeling stupid. This formation thing was going nowhere.
/I think I feel it too!/ Hunk chimed in. /It's like we're all being pulled in the same direction!/
Keith had a suspicion as to why when he looked up. And, Jaz seemed to see it too, /Look up guys!/
/What the cheese?!/
/Sendak's ship's sucking us in like a black hole!/
"It's a tractor beam," Keith hissed. "He's using it to take the lions."
/Wait, like Star Wars?/
"Yes," Keith said watching as the ion cannon began to charge. His brows furrowed, if they wanted the lions intact, why would they…oh quiznak. The cannon fired, hitting the particle barrier again, but, this time, it didn't hold. Instead, the barrier shattered into thousands of bright fragments before fizzling out of existence. "Shit."
/I don't care what you say Shiro! I'm panicking now!/
/It can't end here!/
/We're gonna die!/
/No!/ Shiro snapped. /We are not going to die. We are going to survive this, and we are going to win. We just need to believe in ourselves. We can't give up! We're the universe's only hope, everyone's relying on us. We can't fail and we won't if we work together!/
/Yeah!/ the others shouted.
Keith smirked, while it hadn't been the best call to battle he'd ever heard, it was definitely motivating. Shiro was right, they could win this.
Red shook around him and Keith heard metal shifting and scraping against metal, gears clicking into place, hisses of air being released as attachments were made. With wide eyes, Keith looked back to his dashboard to stare as the schematics of Voltron began to appear. "Holy draaf."
/I can't believe it!/
/We formed Voltron!/
/I'm a leg!/
/How are we doing this?!/
Over the comms, Keith heard Shiro give an exhilarated chuckle, /I have no idea, but let's take out that cannon!/
Voltron shot through the air, blasts from the Galra fighters seeming to bounce off its armor as they soared towards the warship. Slamming onto the back of the cruiser, Keith could see the hull bend under the weight of the impact and he shifted Red moving her down and allowing her jaws to clamp down on the barrel of the cannon, metal crunching as they locked. He yanked the controls back and sparks flew from the cannon as it was torn from its spot and Keith swung out the arm, releasing the clamp, allowing the cannon to fly off into regions unknown.
An explosion rocked the warship under Voltron's feet, almost knocking them off as the Green Lion extracted itself from the burning hull before Voltron flew back into the air. A button began to flash and Keith raised a brow before aiming his lion towards the ship and pressing it. Keith couldn't help the wide grin that split his face as a massive laser shot out from the lion's mouth and tore through the ship.
The cockpit shook as Voltron flipped in the air, diving down towards the smoldering warship and ripping through the remaining engines. Heat filled the air as explosions racked the ship as they landed, and the five Paladins grinned as they watched the firework show.
They just won their first battle against the Galra, and they did as Voltron. For what seemed like for the first time in ten-thousand years, there actually was a threat against the Galra.
-.-
"Great work Paladins!" Allura praised as she and the others ran out from the Castle to meet them on the ground.
"That has to be one of the best space battles I've ever seen!" Jaz exclaimed pumping a fist in the air.
"Aw, thanks ladies," Lance winked. "It wasn't too hard."
"You yelled that we were going to die," Pidge reminded causing the Blue Paladin to deflate.
Keith grunted as a hand slammed into his back. Taking a step forwards to regain his balance, Keith tossed a half-hearted glare at Shiro as the other man smiled and removed his helmet. "We did it."
Chuckling lightly, Keith removed his own helmet, sighing as his face hit fresh air. "Yeah, we did."
"How did we do it?" Shiro breathed.
"Don't ask me."
"I was just like screaming the whole time, so maybe that did it?" Hunk offered.
Jaz raised a brow, "I highly doubt that had anything to do with it."
Shaking his head, Shiro stepped to the side, putting a hand on Pidge's shoulder. "Hey, we won't stop until we find your father and brother," he reassured. "Wherever they are, I'm sure they'll be proud of you."
The smaller girl gave him a small smile before Allura cleared her throat, garnering everyone's attention. "The battle may be won, but our war has just begun. I'm afraid Zarkon won't stop until he gets his hands on these lions."
"Good thing you Paladins know what you're doing," Coran piped up, "cause you'll have to form Voltron again, and again."
"What?"
"We barely survived doing it this once," Lance whined. "Plus we don't even know how we did it."
Coran didn't seem to hear the Blue Paladin as he continued to ramble on, "And, of course, that battle was just against one ship. Wait till you'll have to fight a whole fleet of them!"
"Eh, it might be some time before we're ready for that Coran," Jaz interjected. "But, if it does help, I can practice my magic more, it might give us an edge in the field."
"Hopefully," Coran nodded quickly, "But either way it's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe. It's going to be a long, bumpy ride, that's for sure!"
Shiro chuckled, shaking his head before looking up at the lions. "Defenders of the Universe, huh? That has a nice ring to it."
A/N: Hey everyone! Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. I know it's shorter than usual but, hey, sometimes it happens. Anyways, let me know what y'all think of the rewritten chapters so far. I'll see y'all next time!
