Chapter 7: Family Matters

Far away outside the atmosphere of the Balmera, the Paladins were seeing the surface of it as they approached it.

Allura: "We'll be arriving at the Balmera soon. Liberating the Balmerans from Zarkon's grasp will not be easy."

Jenny began wondering about the plan for when they enter.

Jenny: "So, what's the plan here? Do we just go in there and just— 'pew, pew, pew!' and free the prisoners?"

Keith: "What was that?"

Jenny: "You know, a laser gun."

Hunk: "No, Jenny, I think you mean—"

Then, Hunk thrusted his arms back and forth as he imitated the lasers before raising his arms and lowering them before he fired the last one.

Hunk: "Pow!"

Jenny: "Nah, those were laser cannons, tops."

Pidge: "Technically, they're more like— ba-choo, ba-choo, ba-choo!"

Shiro: "Okay, enough with the bad sound effects."

Sandra grew relieved that he said this, as she didn't want to hear anymore of those.

Sandra: "Thank you, Shiro."

Shiro: "Besides, it's more like— blam, blam, blam!"

Keith: "What?"

Jenny: "That's just a normal gun."

Pidge: "You're crazy."

Lance: "No way."

Hunk: "Uh, wrong."

Sandra decided to join in on it, too.

Sandra: "I thought it was a thwap."

Lance/Hunk: "Thwap?"

Then, Sandra slapped Lance and Hunk's faces, causing them to fall to the ground with a red hand print present on their faces.

Sandra: "Thwap."

Allura: "Paladins, focus."

Hunk: "Besides, we can't just shoot at the Galra. This Balmera, it's, like, alive. And from what we've seen, it doesn't look very good."

Hunk was proven correct as the blue color on the outside were much larger than the colors near the center of it through the thermal scan.

Coran: "Yes, it's an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this grand beast. Stealing its crystals, its very Life force, without ever performing the energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it."

Sandra: "After seeing Shay's people enslaved, it would t surprise me if every planet we see is like this."

Hunk: "On top of that, it made me realize how bad Zarkon really is. And we're the only ones who can stop him."

Belle: "Okay, so we can't go into the tunnels guns blazing. What else can we do?"

Shiro has an idea to accommodate that.

Shiro: "Plan B. We figure out how to draw the Galra up to the surface and battle them out there."

Lapis: "Okay. But how do we lure them out is the real question."

Hunk: "I know. If we attack all of this big mining stuff on the surface, the Galra troops will have to come out to defend it. Then we beat them up, head down to the tunnels, Voltron saves the day."

Keith: "But how will we know how many are left in the tunnels?"

Babak: "The Balmera was often visited and restored by Alteans before Zarkon's hostile takeover. So, it should stand to reason that those with Altean connections should be able to connect with it as well. That means you'll have better luck, Jenny."

Jenny grew a bit doubtful about her abilities.

Jenny: "Yeah, but I don't know how to do it like you guys did it back then. I'm still new to all of this."

Babak: "Well, that's just one suggestion. Fortunately, there's another."

Allura: "We can track the Galra and the Balmerans using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology."

Pidge: "Oh, BLIP Tech!"

Babak grew confused at the words that came out of her mouth as her eyes looked toward him.

Babak: "What is... BLIP Tech?"

Pidge: "It's an acronym."

Babak: "Ah. I see."

Allura: "One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the drop sensors into the shafts on each side. Then, we'll be able to see where the Galra and the Balmerans are. There are already sensors built into your suits."

Pidge: "I can do it. I just modified the Green Lion with the Invisible Maze's cloaking ability. I should be able to fly around unnoticed."

Then, Coran noticed the source of the mining activity on Balmera.

Coran: "That's their main power generator. If you take that down, it will severely weaken their defenses."

Jenny: "What about you guys?"

Allura: "We'll stay in cloud cover and give tactical support. With the Castle's defenses weakened from the Dark Quintessence, we won't be of much help to you. That is, until after Azix and Zaltron have finished repairing it."

Belle: "So, what's the plan?"

Shiro: "Lapis and I'll take out the power generator. Keith, Jenny, Lance, Hunk, you take out these big mining rigs around the area."

Then, Hunk got excited about the mission all over again.

Hunk: "Yeah! Okay, let's do this! Let's go kick some alien butt!"

As the Castle entered the Balmera's orbit the Paladins went in their lions as Jenny stood up behind him. Jenny still felt glum about the situation, catching his notice.

Lance: "What's wrong?"

Jenny: "It's just... it's moving way too fast for me."

Lance heard that phrase before and grew scared about what it meant.

Lance: "What?! You're breaking up with me?!"

Jenny: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Lance. No, I'm not. I was talking about how fast we had to leave Earth just to be a part of this epic adventure."

Lance: "I thought you liked adventures."

Jenny: "Of course I do. But... what if I can't do the things Allura can do? What then?"

Lance: "Then, I'll still love you."

Jenny smiled from hearing this.

Jenny: "Thanks, but... what if you won't be alive long enough to even do that?"

Lance got the gist of what she was talking about just as Keith spoke up.

Keith: "It's not about what you can't do, Jenny. It's about freeing the prisoners from Zarkon."

Jenny: "Yeah, I know. But still... Wait, were you spying on us?"

As an answer, the Blue Lion took off at great speeds as they charged out of the Castle and down towards the Balmera. Then, the Galra's cannons began to fire at the lions as they swerved around them.

Shiro: "This is it. Get your heads in the game. Remember, the Balmera is a living creature. Make sure you pinpoint only the Galra installations and not its surface."

As they broke formation, Pidge swerved toward the installations.

Pidge: "Initiating cloak."

Then, Pidge turned on the Green Lion's cloaking while dropping the BLIP Tech into the tunnel before it opened up. Then, Lance fired at the cannons with his Lion's tail as Hunk collided with a few of them. Shiro and Lapis, in the meantime, were trying to come up with a way to disassemble them quickly.

Lapis: "That cannon's going to be a problem."

Shiro: "How do I take this thing down?"

Then, the monitors showed the Black and Violet Lion's Heads with a dual-bladed sword in their mouths.

Lapis: "Huh?"

Shiro: "What's that?"

Lapis: "It looks like some sort of jaw blade. My lion has that too."

Shiro: "Jaw blade? Okay. Let's do this!"

Then, the Black and Violet Lion's eyes glowed yellow before roaring and summoning the jaw blade, slicing through the installations swiftly, creating multiple explosions not long after.

Meanwhile, Pidge had dropped the last of the BLIP Tech in the tunnels.

Pidge: "All sensors delivered."

All that was left was the giant flower-shaped cannon. Keith evaded its blast before firing magma at it, melting the weapon.

Keith: "Whoa! Did you guys just see that? I got fire power!"

Lance grew jealous of that.

Lance: "Hey! I want that!"

However, it turned out not to be the best plan as the weapon broke apart and started to fall.

Keith: "Oh, no!"

Seeing this, Hunk went underneath the weapon and held it up with difficulty.

Hunk: "Hey, we can't let this thing hurt the Balmera."

As he lifted it up and grunted while doing so, Jenny heard the Blue Lion's voice, as did Lance.

Jenny: "I think our lion knows what to do!"

Lance: "Well, let's hope it works."

Then, the Blue Lion charged toward the weapon and fired a cool blue laser at it, only instead of melting it, it began freezing it, encasing it in ice.

Lance: "Aw, snap! These rays are super cool, just like me!"

Jenny drew an indifferent face at this.

Jenny: "I thought you said you wanted fire power."

Shiro: "Great job, team!"

As they landed on the iced weapon, Lapis and Keith noticed the strange silence.

Lapis: "No one's showing up."

Keith: "Where are all the troops? They're not coming to the surface."

Sandra: "But why? There was a whole army of them last time."

Allura: "We've located a hangar full of Galra fighters just below the surface. Someone has to take those out before they can launch."

Belle: "Agreed. We don't exactly want a hornet's nest swarming us at the moment."

Shiro: "They're luring us down, but we have no choice. Keith, Jenny, Lance, you guys hit the hangar. Hunk, Sandra, Lapis, head to the prison to rescue Shay and the other Balmerans. Pidge, Belle, and I will track down the Galra soldiers."

Keith: "Yes, sir."

Sandra: "Copy that."

Lance: "Ten-four."

Jenny: "Right."

Pidge: "On it."

Belle: "Roger."

Hunk: "Let's do this!"

At Zarkon's Command Center, Prorok is being informed by his lieutenant.

Thace: "Commander Prorok, we have word from Commanders Xarnas and Snide on Balmera X-95 Vox. The informants were right. Voltron is there."

Prorok: "Excellent. Everything is going according to plan."

Thace: "How do you wish to proceed? Should we inform Emperor Zarkon and Kaecilius?"

Prorok: "Contact Commander Vaxel. He and his fleet are awaiting my signal. Tell him it's time to attack. I will update the Emperor. Leave Kaecilius out of this. He has far better uses of his time than Voltron, or so he told me."

At the Galra Hangar, Jenny, Keith, and Lance were sneaking around for recon and saw that a whole array of ships were guarded by a few drones.

Keith: "The entire hangar's only being guarded by a few sentries."

Jenny: "Not the best security, is it?"

Then, Keith readied his bayard into a sword before attempting to charge in.

Keith: "Let's go!"

However, Lance stopped him before he charged out.

Lance: "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Cool your jets, Keith!"

Jenny: "Yeah. Did you just forget that the Balmera is alive?"

Keith's face dropped down in embarrassment.

Keith: "Oh, right."

Lance: "Yeah, so we can't just blow things up like a psycho."

Keith: "Oh, you got a better idea?"

Lance: "I do. We sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors. That'll trap the ships in."

Keith: "That..."

He was about to retort, when he realized how sensible the plan was and how efficient it is.

Keith: "...actually is a better idea."

Jenny: "Right? Now, let's go."

Then, the three Paladins walked silently on the catwalk while far away, Hunk, Sandra, and Lapis were searching for Shay and her family.

Hunk: "Allura, Coran, Babak, what's our location? All these tunnels look the same. I can't remember where the prison is."

In the Castle, Coran relayed the directions.

Coran: "You're on the right path. Turn right at the next tunnel. Once you get there, you'll have to disable the energy doors. Be careful. It looks like it's heavily guarded."

Lapis: "We'll keep that in mind."

Meanwhile, Jenny, Keith, and Lance were in the air vents, whispering so as not to be heard.

Lance: "No, no. It's over here."

Keith: "I know what I'm doing."

Jenny: "Can you speed this up please?"

Keith/Lance: "Sorry."

Then, Keith plunged his sword through a wall above the drone's head before pulling it up. Then, Lance noticed the drone and smashed it with the cut-open wall as he fell down. Then, he spoke to Jenny and Keith as they joined him.

Lance: "Keep an eye out for those guards. I'll see if I can find a way to shut the hangar doors."

Jenny: "Gotcha."

Then, she and Keith looked out the window keeping an eye on the sentries while Lance had trouble deciphering the Galra Panel. When he found a small set of buttons, he pressed them, but with little to no effect.

Lance: "I don't know what I'm doing here. It's all Galra gibberish."

Then, Keith walked up to the panel beside Lance.

Keith: "Let me see."

Then, Keith noticed a Galra handprint before placing his hand there, resulting in the doors closing as the alarm beeped.

Lance: "Whoa! How'd you do that?"

Keith: "I just put my hand on the handprint."

Jenny: "Yeah, a Galra handprint. Wait... does that mean... you're part Galra, Keith?!"

Keith and Lance shushed Jenny for being too loud before a drone thought it heard a commotion as they ducked. Fortunately, the drone hadn't seen them. Keith whispered to Jenny.

Keith: "No. I'm not part Galra, okay?"

Jenny nodded quietly in response.

Meanwhile, Hunk, Sandra, and Lapis were riding towards the door before the drones shot at them. Then, Hunk took cover with his pod before he got out his bayard and morphed it into a machine gun and shot at them.

Hunk: "Yeah!"

Then, Hunk went to the arm of a drone and picked it up before turning to Lapis and Sandra who showed looks of confusion.

Hunk: "That was way too easy."

Sandra: "My thoughts exactly."

Lapis: "I definitely don't have a good feeling about this."

Hunk: "Me neither. I mean, where are those Galra with beards?"

Lapis: "Galra with beards?"

Hunk: "Well, one of them had a goatee, but still."

Then, Hunk used the arm to scan the handprint and open the door, allowing the trio in while arousing suspicion in Sandra.

Sandra: "Coran, you said it's heavily guarded, but I don't see any of them."

Coran: "That's because they're mobilizing away from you."

Lapis: "Away from us? That doesn't make any sense. Something's definitely going on. You think you could keep an eye on them, Sandra?"

Sandra: "Sure."

Then, Sandra went after the drones after she found them marching away as she tried to follow them. As Sandra did so, Hunk and Lapis turned to the door and used the handprint to open it up before being noticed by Shay's family.

Shay's Father: "Hunk, you have returned."

Hunk: "I promised I'd be back. We're here to help."

The Balmerans grew worried about his companion and backed away, only for Lapis to calm them down.

Lapis: "No, no, it's okay. I'm with him."

Shay's Grandmother: "But you're Galra."

Lapis: "That doesn't make me like Zarkon. Believe me."

Rax: "No. One skyling's already made things worse. I won't let you poison our minds as well, renegade."

Lapis didn't find him welcoming and understood why Sandra was so mad at him.

Lapis: "Wow. Was he always such a bringdown?"

Then, Hunk looked around and saw that Shay wasn't around.

Hunk: "Where's Shay?"

Then, Rax spoke in a condescending tone.

Rax: "Our life may not have been perfect, but our family was whole. Your arrival has left us imprisoned and torn apart. As soon as your attack started, they took her away to the core of the Balmera. For all we know, she could be gone for good."

Lapis then spoke back to him in her own retorted tone.

Lapis: "And whose fault was that? From what Hunk told me, you ratted her out to the Galra in the first place."

Rax began to grow frightened of Lapis' accusation.

Lapis: "So, don't you dare blame any of us for what happened to Shay. Blame yourself for being such a coward."

Hunk immediately felt awkward about what Lapis had just said to Rax.

Hunk: "Wow, Lapis. Just, wow."

Then, Allura spoke to them.

Allura: "Paladins, are you there? The Galra troops are headed down the tunnels. It looks like they're going down toward the center."

Lapis: "They must be headed to the core. That's where they're holding Shay."

As they ran out, Lapis turned to Rax who stood up in shame before Lapis dismisses him with a scowl before running toward Hunk.

Meanwhile, Shiro and Belle were riding his pod as they received the message.

Belle: "Sound like they're luring us into an ambush."

Shiro: "Maybe, but we don't have a choice if we want to save Shay. We have to follow. Lance, Keith, Jenny, get to the core. I think we're going to need everyone together to get through this firefight."

At the hangar, Lance, Keith, and Jenny got Shiro's message.

Lance: "Copy that. We're on our way."

As they ran out of the control room, Keith slashed at the panel to keep it from being changed.

Then, Lance shot at the button to keep the door closed.

Meanwhile, Pidge was traveling down the tunnel until she'd noticed a dead end and stopped before getting out.

Allura: "You're in an area where the tunnels are too narrow for your speeder."

Pidge: "Yeah. Proceeding on foot."

Then, Pidge got out and traveled down by foot as a shadow approached.

Pidge: "There's someone here."

Allura: "Looking into it."

As the shadow crept closer, Pidge readied her bayard before she lunging as Allura spoke up.

Allura: "Pidge, no! Those are Balmerans!"

Then, Pidge stopped a few feet and looked at three Balmerans children before she drew a breath of relief.

Pidge: "Phew!"

Then, he waved to them before they heard groaning, scaring the children away. Unfortunately, one of them tripped before a rock started to crumble above him, prompting Pidge to fly towards him and push him out of the way. The other two children hugged the rescued third before Pidge spoke to them.

Pidge: "Don't worry."

Then, Pidge relayed the current situation to the other Paladins.

Pidge: "Hey, team, be careful. The Balmera is very unstable."

Meanwhile, Jenny was brushing her dusty hair off while responding back.

Jenny: "Uh, yeah. We've already figured that out."

Then, she, Keith, and Lance noticed three drones before they turned to see them. Then, as they fired, they jumped out of the way, causing it to groan in pain, the noises of which Jenny heard and felt as after she touched her hand on its walls, causing that part of it to glow blue, a sensation appeared in her chest and clutched onto it as she moaned, worrying Lance.

Lance: "Jenny! Are you hurt?"

Jenny could've sworn she wasn't shot and was confused as she began to get an idea.

Jenny: "Sort of? I think... I think I'm feeling its pain. Their shooting's hurting it real bad. We gotta do something."

Suddenly, the pain got worse for the both of them before they moaned.

Lance: "Well, we can't shoot back. It'll just make it worse."

Then, Lance took a look at the ceiling before trailing to its installations and noticed a ladder for him to climb. Then, Lance pointed at the ladder and up to the ceiling before he pointed at the drones and then to himself before pointing at his eyes and then to the drones. Jenny got the message as she nodded.

Jenny: "Okay."

Keith was still confused at the signs he made.

Keith: "Huh?"

Then, Jenny turned to Keith and spoke to him.

Jenny: "There's a ladder you can climb. Lance is going to distract them while you take them out."

Then, Keith got the message before he nodded.

Keith: "Oh."

As he climbed up the ladder, Lance got out in the open before he taunted then while waving his arms. Then, as they fired again, he got out the shield and braced their fire before Keith jumped at them and slashed at the drones before Lance drew his shield back and smiled with a thumbs-up before looking toward Jenny, who was now recovering from her moment of symbiosis as she did a thumbs-up of her own.

Meanwhile, Sandra had found the core of the Balmera and found Shay there, as well as a huge Dark Quintessence crystal below her. To her horror, she gasped as it glowed and warbled. Then, Hunk charged in, yelling like a bull before Sandra looked to him and tried to stop him in his tracks.

Sandra: "No, Hunk! Wait!"

Then, Hunk stopped his movement and interacted with Sandra.

Hunk: "Huh? What's up?"

Then, Sandra pointed to the crystal and Shay. Honestly, he was more concerned with Shay, in spite of the Dark Crystal's presence.

Hunk: "Shay! You're alive!"

Sandra: "Not for long. Look."

Then, the dark crystal began shining its essence into Shay as her muffled moans ensued while it scarred her with Dark Quintessence. Hunk grew angry at this before firing at the crystal, canceling its effects before he fired at the rope holding her and grabbed her bridal style. Just then, Lapis, Shiro, Belle, and Pidge arrived.

Lapis: "Thank goodness."

Belle: "Wait. Where's the Galra?"

Shiro: "If this is an ambush, they should be here waiting for us."

Suddenly, the door closed just as Jenny, Keith, and Lance walked in, only to be trapped as well. Then, the ceiling of the core began to glow purple with Dark Quintessence, much to the horror of the Paladins.

Hunk: "Not an ambush. More like a trap."

Then, Jenny turned to Shay for an answer.

Jenny: "Hey. Your name's Shay, right? What's going on?"

Shay: "The Galra, they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera."

Pidge: "How?"

Shay: "I know not. But they set this trap just for you. I was bait."

Shiro: "Who could possibly have known that we were heading here?"

However, Sandra could make a guess.

Sandra: "Rax. He's ratted us out before. What's stopping him from doing it again?"

However, Hunk had a different idea.

Hunk: "Nope. It's Rolo. Those liars must have told Zarkon or, like, Kaecilius."

Belle: "Whoever told them doesn't matter. Right now, we have to find a way out."

Then, Lance had an idea.

Lance: "Wait! We have a giant Castle ship hovering in the sky. Allura, can you please come get us?"

Jenny raised her brows in confusion.

Jenny: "And how is she going to do that?"

Lance: "I don't know, maybe they got teleporters or something."

Allura responded as she was having her own problems.

Allura: "We're quite occupied at the moment."

The Castle was being under attack by the Galra ships.

Babak: "We're completely surrounded by Galra ships and we're taking heavy fire!"

As the Castle braced the numerous billets of the Galra ships' laser guns, an alarm sounded.

Babak: "What now?"

Coran: "Our particle barrier won't last much longer!"

Then, Allura spoke to the Paladins.

Allura: "Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can!"

Jenny: "Right!"

However, just as Jenny was about to fire her bayard at a door, she received a small vision of two dark purple eyes before suddenly falling to the floor with Lance catching her.

Lance: "Jenny! You okay?"

Jenny: "I-I don't know. I just... I just froze all over again. I'm not in any pain like the last time, though."

Lance: "Good."

Lapis figured out what caused this.

Lapis: "The Dark Quintessence. It's keeping us from doing anything to break out."

Lance grew worried for Jenny as she breathed shallowly as her scars glowed dark purple.

Lance: "Oh, no. Not again."

Shiro: "It's alright, Lance. We'll figure it out. Allura, we'll get there as soon as we can."

Then, Shay had an idea.

Shay: "Perhaps my people can help us get out."

Jenny: "Really? How?"

Shay: "You are one of the ancient ones, correct?"

Jenny grew confused before her ears perked a bit.

Jenny: "I guess. Why?"

Then, Shay placed her and Jenny's hands on the core.

Shay: "This is how we communicate. The Balmera sense our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnels."

Jenny began to talk in a weakened voice.

Jenny: "Not to be faithless, but are you sure they could hear our... hands from all the way down here?"

Shay: "The Balmera will deliver the message."

Then, Shay closed her eyes as the core glowed blue while it moaned softly, amazing Jenny.

Jenny: "Whoa."

Then, Jenny drew a deep breath while speaking telepathically.

Jenny: "Excuse me, Balmera? I just... don't feel right taking from you, but... I need you. We all do."

Just as her message was conveyed to it, her hand and her scars glowed blue, to the amazement of the Paladins.

Far away, Rax and his family were walking in the tunnels when they heard its moans before Rax knelt down and placed his hand on the ground as it glowed blue.

Rax: "It's a message from Shay."

Shay's Father: "She's alive!"

Rax: "The Paladins of Voltron went to the core of the Balmera to save Shay... and now they are all trapped. One of them slowly being poisoned by Dark Quintessence."

Shay's Father: "Then we are all doomed."

However, Rax took what Lapis said to heart and stood up from the ground.

Rax: "This is all my fault. I conspired against them, and because of my actions, Shay was imprisoned. The Galra renegade was right. If we ever hope to be free, we must take action."

Shay's Father personally had doubts that they'll pull it off, given their captors' 10,000 year supremacy.

Shay's Father: "But how can we rise up against our Galra overlords?"

Rax: "What choice do we have? They have stolen all of the crystals from our Balmera. Our lives are worthless to them now."

Shay's Father: "But Balmerans have never fought."

Rax: "You taught me that without family, we have nothing. The Galra have taken Shay. How can we do nothing while the Paladins sacrifice everything to save us? We must do our part!"

At Zarkon's command center, Prorok knelt before his Emperor as he relayed the news.

Prorok: "Lord Zarkon, I have news to report. News that will likely please you, my Emperor."

Zarkon: "Proceed."

Prorok: "I have the Voltron Paladins trapped on a Balmera in the Javeeno star system. I've ordered a fleet to capture the lions and destroy the Altean Castle."

However, the news didn't please Zarkon one bit as he claimed.

Zarkon: "You fool! You dare make plans without informing me?"

Prorok: "Forgive me, Emperor, But I saw an opportunity and I took it for the glory of the Galra Empire."

Zarkon: "I suspect that you are seeking your own glory, Prorok. But you do not realize Voltron's power."

Out in space, the Galra ships were bombarding the Castle's shields while half of the ships swerved to the atmosphere.

Coran: "They're heading down into the tunnels!"

Then, Babak could make a guess as to why as he gasped.

Babak: "They're going to steal the lions!"

Allura: "Paladins, the lions are in danger! You must get back to them immediately!"

Suddenly, an alarm sounded and Babak related it to Allura.

Babak: "Princess, something's locked onto us."

Suddenly, a giant Galra battle cruiser appeared from hyperdrive before a transmission from it was sent by Vaxel.

Vaxel: "Princess Allura. The time has come for your execution. The sins of your father must be paid in full. Prepare for destruction!"

Back at the Balmera, Allura alerted the Paladins of their current situation as Jenny slowly recovered.

Allura: "Paladins, do you copy? There's a battle cruiser locked into us. If it fires with its ion cannon, we don't know if we can survive."

Lance: "We're trying, Allura. Shay and Jenny are pressing their hands against the core, which apparently sends vibrations to the other rock people, who vibrate back or something? Hand talking? I guess the answer to your question is, "Yes, we copy.'"

Shiro: "Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?"

Outside, Rax and the others had made it to the doors.

Suddenly, the wall by the door glowed blue as Rax and his family pressed their hands against it, causing it to crush the door open. When the Paladins and Shay looked back, they saw Rax, his father, his grandmother, and his mother.

Shay: "Rax!"

Rax: "We must make haste. We know a shortcut through the tunnels."

Shiro: "Allura, stand by. We're on our way up."

Outside, the Black Lion was being taken by two Galra ships via tractor beam.

Allura: "Paladins, hurry! They're taking off with the lions!"

Shiro, having heard this, yelled out as the speeder in full speed as Belle hung onto him. Then, he did a skid and went up to the Black Lion as the shield and cockpit opened up. Then, the Black Lion roared as it broke free from the tractor beams and flew out of the tunnel.

Shiro: "Guys, did everyone make it to the lions in time?"

Just then, all five lions emerged from the tunnels.

Jenny: "Yep!"

Lance: "Come on, Shiro. Who you think you're dealing with, a bunch of amateurs?"

Then, as the five lions swerved away, Lance didn't notice the spire as Jenny panicked and took the wheel.

Jenny: "Look where you're going!"

She was able to swerve the lion away and back on course as she took a deep breath after her short moment of panic.

Shiro: "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Lance: "No."

Then, the lions took off toward the ships.

Shiro: "Let's go!"

As they got closer to them, while the Green, Blue, and Red lions fired at them, the Yellow Lion smashed into them before gripping it with its jaws and chucking it away before the Black and Violet Lions used their jaw blades to slice the rest in half.

At the battle cruiser, Vaxel noticed this and wasn't pleased as he snarled.

Vaxel: "Prepare the ion cannon. I will give the Paladins a rude awakening myself."

Then, as more ships came in from the atmosphere, the Red Lion fired its red-hot breath while the Blue Lion fired its ice-cold blast, both of which caused an explosion altogether. Then, the Yellow Lion charged in and smashed it before gripping on it with its jaws and making a pile of smashed Galra ships as he went forward. Then, the Galra ships overhead began to fire at the Yellow Lion before the Green Lion acted as a shield for it.

Pidge: "Hunk, watch out!"

Then, Lapis arrived to slice the Galra ships with the jaw blade.

Lapis: "Got you covered!"

As they exploded, Hunk drew a breath of relief.

Hunk: "Phew! Thanks, guys!"

However, it was far from over as Vaxel's battle cruiser began charging its ion cannon.

Coran: "It's charging its ion cannon!"

Allura: "Divert all shields to the bow."

Then, the Castle's shield shrunk toward the front of it just as it fired. However, it held the blast at bay, but now without the alarm blaring.

Allura: "Paladins, I need you immediately! Five more ticks and we're finished!"

Shiro: "Okay, Team, Let's form Voltron!"

All: "Yeah!"

Then, the Paladins formed Voltron while Lapis activated her Lion's alternate form before they went above the atmosphere and tried to push the battle cruiser from under. As they shouted, they lifted it away giving them a chance to retaliate.

Coran: "Right now is our chance, Princess!"

Allura: "Full power on the blasters! Locked into target. Fire!"

Then, the shield shrunk even further to the very center of the Castle before it fired a bright blue ray at the battle cruiser with Shay and Rax looking up to see it as the two Voltrons moved out of the way for it to spear through the cruiser. Then, it began to glow purple before it exploded, taking the whole fleet of ships with it.

Hunk/Keith: "Yeah!"

Pidge: "Nice shot, Princess!"

Jenny: "That was so cool!"

Sandra: "Really amazing!"

Belle: "Great work!"

Lance: "Yeah! The parade's back on!"

At the command center, Zarkon and Prorok has received news from a soldier.

Galra Soldier: "The Galra fleet and all sentries on the Balmera have been defeated."

Prorok: "No! How could this be? Lord Zarkon, I will do all that I can to recapture Voltron for the Galra."

Zarkon: "Silence, Prorok. I have plans that you cannot comprehend."

As the Voltrons landed, Keith felt relieved.

Keith: "Mission accomplished."

Allura: "And just in the tick of time. The Castle's defenses are battered and will need to fully recharge."

Jenny: "Yeah."

Then, Jenny began to feel concerned for the Balmera.

Jenny: "But... what about the Balmera?"

Just before anyone could answer, an alarm sounded from the ship.

Allura: "Huh?"

Just then, Zaltron and Azix went into the main hangar.

Azix: "What is going on out there?"

Coran: "There's unknown objects incoming! They're about to crash into the Balmera!"

Then, within the fiery flames of the Robeast ship, Vaxel latched onto the edges and hung on as it crashed, sending dust everywhere.

Keith: "What the heck is that?"

Shiro: "Trouble."

Just then, the dust cleared to reveal Vaxel in top of the ship as Pidge got a scan of him.

Pidge: "Wait. I know him! It's the Galra Commander I fought in the Castle. Not to brag, but I made him lose his arm once."

Vaxel then drew his sword out as Dark Quintessence flowed through it.

Vaxel: "Paladins of Voltron, prepare to be obliterated!"