Chapter 8

A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome back! Hope y'all're enjoying the rewrite so far, I know that progress seems slow. But now that it's summer I'll have more time to work on this and my other stories. Anyways, I don't own Voltron or Destiny, just my OCs.

Yorak talking to Keith.

Flashbacks.

"Dust flew into the air as the Black Lion was tossed of the Galra robot's shoulders, inside the cockpit, Jaz and Shiro grunted as the impact almost sent them flying around the cockpit. "Ow," Jaz muttered, getting back to her feet as she tried to pry her white knuckled grip from Shiro's seat.

"Keith was right," Shiro muttered, "these things need seatbelts."

"And a passenger seat," she added.

/Lay down some cover fire!/ Keith called as Red flew overhead.

/On it!/ Lance's voice rang out as laser fire began to rain down between Black and the machine attacking them.

/Watch this! Battle-Lion Head-Butt!/ Yellow dove down from the sky, slamming into the robot from the side, causing it to stumble and fall to its knees.

/You guys ok down there?/ Keith's voice called over the gunfire.

"Still alive, for now."

/Are the Galra behind this?/ Hunk's panicked voice asked.

"Who else?" Jaz deadpanned.

Shiro tossed her an irritated glare, now wasn't the time for sarcasm. "It doesn't matter, we need to figure out how to bring this thing down."

/Any idea what this thing is?!/

/Some sort of robot!/ Pidge answered.

Shiro glanced to his right as azure strands of hair fell over Jaz's shoulder as she leaned forwards, pursing her lips. "What is it?"

"I don't know, it looks familiar."

/So what's the plan? Shoot at it with everything we got? Take out its weapons? Call it names?/

/Hunk! Calm down!/ Lance snapped.

/I can't! I'm panicking!/

"Listen," Shiro interrupted, "if we want to take this monster down, there's only one way to do it," as if knowing what he was doing, the Lions began to roar and a glow began to emanate from their eyes and seams, moving to cover them, "Form Voltron!"

"At his exclamation, Black launched into the air, grouping up with the other Lions. Shiro could feel the trembling of his lion as parts shifted and he could hear metal scraping and gears whirring and locking as Voltron formed.

"Remember," he spoke up as the transformation finished, "we're one unit fighting with one goal."

Voltron shot forwards, dodging by the glowing electric orb as it soared past them. Red pulled back and then shot forwards in a powerful punch that Shiro could feel shake through the entire superweapon as their opponent stumbled back. Taking the opportunity, Pidge moved Green into an uppercut and Shiro could almost sense everyone get the same idea as they shoved the controls forwards, causing Voltron to leap up and the arms of Voltron swung down for a final blow.

However, that blow was blocked by the robot's arm. It raised its other arm, the claw beginning to spin before it shot forwards and slammed them onto the ground.

"Guys," Jaz grunted as she pulled herself back up beside Shiro's seat, a small trickle of silver blood dripping down her forehead, "the orb."

Looking at his scanner, Shiro blanched as he saw the warning light flashing as the object approached. The others must've done the same because Voltron seamlessly moved to roll out of the way and fly back into the air.

/I thought Voltron was the most powerful weapon in the universe?!/ Keith exclaimed.

/Exactly! How is this thing kicking our butts!/

"It has been ten thousand years," Jaz grimaced.

/JAZ! Not helping!/ Hunk cried as they ducked under the orb.

Only to turn around and get punched by the robot. The ground under them shook as Voltron slammed through the hill they had been fighting at and had then slammed into the next hill over. Rolling over, Shiro managed to lift the Head of Voltron and paled as he could see small houses in the distance. The village, he'd completely forgotten about it.

"We have to protect those people."

"Orb!"

Voltron raised its arms, blocking the glowing sphere as it plowed into them. Trenches slowly formed in the ground as the force of the weapon continued to push against them, before they were finally able to push it back and send it flying back to its owner.

"That was close," Shiro sighed as Voltron flew up into the air flying away from the village.

/We have to get away from the Arusians/ Pidge said, /But we can't take this thing down!/

"Well we can't protect them if we can't protect ourselves," Jaz retorted.

/I got it!/ Lance exclaimed, /I'm gonna power-kick that orb thingy!/

/No! Last time you did a kick we fell!/ Keith protested.

/Stop living in the past!/

The orb began to fly towards them once again as Voltron began to dive towards the ground. Over the comms they could hear the Blue Paladin's battle cry as Voltron began the downwards kick. A battle cry that quickly ended as the orb soared past him.

/Oh no/

Shiro grunted, squeezing the controls as the orb slammed into them, sending them flying into the ground. He could hear Jaz grunt behind him along with a few Awoken curses as she pulled herself up, gripping the seat with a white-knuckled grip.

/My point's proven/ Keith grumbled.

"Now is not the time for your petty squabbles guys!" Jaz snapped.

Shiro agreed, but right now he was more focused on getting Voltron back to its feet. "Pidge, fire lasers now!"

The Green Lion rose up its mouth beginning to glow, however, instead of firing a blast Voltron's wings detached and form a shield.

/Oops/

"No! Lasers!" Shiro repeated as the orb flew back them. Fortunately, the shield took the brunt of the blow; at least until it came back around and sent them sprawling.

/Every time we focus on the orb we get blindsided by the monster! And every time we focus on the monster we get hit by the orb!/ Hunk complained.

/Then what do we do?!/

/Orb!/

The flying object slammed into them again, and Voltron was slammed back. /Shiro! We've gotta move!/ Keith called. /Shiro? Are you there? Shiro!/

Jaz's brows furrowed and she looked down at her friend; Shiro was pale, sweat beading on his brow as his breaths came in short gasps. She'd been in the military long enough to recognize a panic attack, let alone those of a man she'd shared a cell with for the past year. Reaching out, she set her hand on his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze in an attempt to anchor him as she relayed orders while Shiro recovered. "First thing's first: we need to take out that arm. With that out of the picture we can put all of our focus onto beating this thing without being blindsided. That sound good Shiro?"

Her friend jumped, clearly startled out of his flashback, "What?" he panted looking at her.

"You ok?"

He gave her a hesitant nod, his brows furrowing as he looked back to their opponent, "That sound…the one the orb makes, I recognize it from our time in Zarkon's prison! I know how to beat it!"

"Well tell us!" Jaz exclaimed gripping onto his seat as Voltron dove out of the way of one of the robot's attacks.

"Ok, there's a loud sound when the orb returns to the weapon's base, and every third time it stays longer to charge up. That's the monster's weakest point. That's when we strike!"

/Sounds like a plan/ Keith replied.

/So what do we do in the meantime?/ Hunk voiced.

"You do defense, I do offense," Jaz replied, "try not to lose balance and break my concentration." Letting her friend go, Jaz took a step back and pressed her palms together as her eyes began to glow brighter. Slowing pulling her hands apart a thin white line began to form in front of Voltron, energy sparking off of it as it continued to grow.

"Shield!" Shiro ordered and Jaz grimaced as she felt Voltron shake and she had to keep her balance while maintaining the spell. "That's one! Two more to go."

The Awoken woman grimaced, she wasn't sure if she could keep concentration for two more blows like that. Gritting her teeth, she began to curl her fingers inward as she began to push against the energy she created. The line of light began to condense into a large orb, arcs of lightning shooting off and striking the ground as she forced it into a tighter ball.

Under her feet, Voltron jerked violently and Jaz stumbled, her orb momentarily spreading out as she started to lose concentration. Forcing her feet back under her, Jaz's eyes flashed brighter as she put her attention back on the spell, bringing it back under her control.

/We can't take much more!/

"Last one!" Shiro called. "Everyone, brace for impact!"

Their opponent's orb shot towards them and Jaz backed herself up against the wall as it hit. She was glad she did as the impact shook Voltron, nearly tossing Shiro out of his seat as their shield went flying away from them.

But that didn't matter as their finally opening came. "Now!" Jaz exclaimed thrusting her hands forwards. The sparking white sphere shot out away from Voltron at her command and she could see Keith fire a blast from his lion towards their target.

Both attacks made impact, sending smoke up into the air and obscuring their view. For a moment, they all felt a sense of relief that they had one.

It was short-lived as the smoke cleared.

The beast stumbled back, a scorch mark on its side from where Keith's blast had hit and the twisted, partially molten remains of its left arm dangling by its side. Jaz gasped as she stumbled forwards, sweat dripping down her brow as she struggled to stay on her feet. She had missed. The weapon—their biggest problem—was still operational.

"Draaf."

/It didn't work!/

/What do we do now?!/

"When I attacked him before I had a sword!" Shiro stated.

"Well we don't exactly have a sword right now, do we?" she muttered.

"Not helping Jaz."

/Orb!/

Jaz grunted as the impact of the violet ball of pain slammed into Voltron's chest, sending her flying back into the wall of the cockpit. Landing on the ground she panted, shakily getting back to her feet as she scrambled back to Shiro. "You ok?"

"No."

/We can't take another shot like that!/

What made that obvious: the fact that they were having their butts handed to them or the fact they were essentially unarmed?

So much for the most powerful weapon in the universe. The old times must've been nice, because clearly that was no longer the case.

/Wait a sec/ Keith chimed in, /I think my Lion's telling me what to do/

/Well whatever it is do it quickly cause he's about to hit us again!/

The orb soared overhead as Voltron began to get back on its feet before it changed direction and slammed into its back causing its passengers to grunt as the impact knocked them forwards.

Peeling herself off of Shiro's chair, Jaz winced as she held her ribs and looked out as they got back up. So far, she was getting more beat-up here than she'd ever been in a cockpit before. Though that wouldn't matter for long given how well the battle was going. Even with one arm this thing was kicking their asses.

However, Jaz felt the tides turning as she watched Red slam into Green pulling away with a glowing arc of light slashing through the air and clean through the beast as the sword formed.

/Yeah!/

/We did it!/

/How did you do that?/

/We have a sword!/

Jaz smirked, shaking her head as she heard Keith chuckle, /Whoa, thanks Red/

-.-

Pidge sat on the bridge leading towards the Castle letting her feet dangle over the edge. She didn't want to be present for the prisoners' departure, it was just a reminder of what she failed to do.

"Pidge, there you are," Shiro said making her look up as she saw him walking over to her.

"Why did you hurt my brother? You were friends?"

"I did it to save him," Shiro said.

"What?"

Shiro sat down next to Pidge, "My memory of the event came back when we were fighting the monster. Your dad was being sent off with the weaker prisoners to a work camp, Darvah was being taken for his engineering abilities or his muscle, meanwhile Matt was sent with us to fight in the gladiator arena. Matt was going to fight first, but he was scared. We all were."

-.-

Cheers from the arena echoed loudly through the dark tunnel the group stood in watching violet-tinged light filter in through the barred door. They could see a large figure standing in the center of the gray sands, patches of various colors stained into the dust around him as he held up the pike holding a glowing orb causing the crowd to cheer louder.

"I'm not going to make it!" an auburn-haired boy exclaimed, almost stumbling back from the line. "I'll never see my family again."

"Don't think like that!" Jaz protested.

Behind her, Shiro stepped forwards, putting a hand on his shoulder, "It'll be ok Matt, you can do this."

Any further conversation was cut short as the metal bars screeched open and a guard stepped forwards holding up a sword and pointing to Matt. However, it wasn't the chosen competitor who took the blade.

Instead, the sword practically flew from his hand into the open hand of an Awoken sorceress. Closing her fist around the blade, she slashed at Matt, "No!"

The young man yelped as a gash opened on his leg before he ducked as he heard another yelp followed by the Sword cutting his shoulder as Shiro wrestled the blade from Jaz's grip and vaulted her over his shoulder. "This is my fight! I want blood!" he exclaimed practically landing on top of both of them.

Matt glanced nervously between the two as he saw Jaz's eyes begin to glow. However, whatever she had planned next was stopped as Shiro gave her a knowing look, his gaze softening. "Take care of your father," he whispered as sentries grabbed their friend's shoulders and pulled him out into the area.

-.-

Pidge breathed a sigh of relief, a feeling of uncertainty that had pooled in her gut since the rescue of the former-prisoners. "You guys saved him," she said, "You both attacked so they'd choose you instead."

Shiro gave a shrug, "Well how was I supposed to know that Jaz would have the same idea I did?"

"We've been friends for how long again, Shiro?" a familiar voice snickered and both turned to see said Awoken leaning against one of the pillars lining the side of what the Green Paladin assumed had been some sort of overhang cover. "But, we wouldn't have had to do that if we'd gone with my initial plan to move his place in line."

"They could've picked him anyways."

Jaz raised a skeptical brow, "You don't know that."

"Thank you!" Pidge exclaimed, leaping to her feet and hugging them. "I'm so, so sorry I doubted you! Thank you so much!"

"Hey, we weren't going to let anything happen to them," Jaz reassured patting her head, "and we'll find them, don't worry."

"And for what it's worth," Shiro chimed in, placing a hand onto the younger girl's shoulder, "your brother and father would be really proud of you Katie."