Chapter 16: Greening the Cube

At outer space, the Paladins were doing diagnostics outside the Castle as Shiro spoke to the group.

"Let's hurry up with these repairs. Zarkon or Kaecilius could be here at any moment."

The group opened up a giant spring that glowed blue around the sockets as Hunk spoke to Coran and Babak for further instruction.

"Okay, panel's off. Now what?"

"Very simple. Just loosen the blaxums on the somoflange."

Hunk didn't quite understand that.

"Could you be more specific?"

"He meant the poklones on the agroclams."

"No, that doesn't help."

Lance then spoke up as he tried to speed it along.

"Easy, Hunk. I got this."

Then, Lance tried his luck on the spring, only for the sprocket to glow red and blared an alarm.

"Uh-oh. That can't be good."

With that, Babak and Coran get into a heated argument.

"No, not the smalters, the poklones!"

"No, no! It's the blaxums!"

"What are you talking about?"

Then, Pidge figured it out as she pushed a few buttons before turning the switch and pushing it down before its blue color returned to normal.

"There. Fixed."

"Well done, Pidge! At least you had the decency to put the poklones on the agroclams."

"The tech on this ship never ceases to amaze me. It's so mathematically elegant. Its fit is a 100 times more frictionless than any exoskeleton we have on Earth. It's... beautiful."

Then, Lance spoke to Pidge about her love for the Castle.

"It's not a sunset, Pidge."

"You're right. A billion sunsets happen every day. Some genius engineer actually built this."

Hunk thought more about what cuisine it related to.

"Kinda looks like a big, delicious curly fry."

Then, just as the spring went down, a small object landed on Hunk's face before they noticed a small squishy substance in the field and saw more of them coming as they got their shields ready while Shiro spoke.

"All right, we've prepared for this. Remember your rogue projectile cluster training from the Garrison. First we need a temporary shelter."

Then, Shiro ended up hit by the substance before looking at Lance.

"Wha—?"

"Oh, sorry, Shiro. I was trying to hit Keith."

Then, Keith hit Lance, earning his growl as he chuckled.

"Like that?"

Hunk welcomed the inevitable as he spoke.

"Yes! Squishy asteroid fight!"

The Paladins immediately hurtled the squishy substances at each other.

"All right, guys. Oh, oh! Okay, now it's on!"

As they did so, Pidge just floated as she looked at the object while Lance hurtled out of control.

"Hmm."

"Oh, come on!"

"I don't think these are asteroids, Coran. I'm going to need a containment unit."

Then, Coran and Babak knew it was familiar.

"Just a tick."

"They appear to be some sort of hyper-resilient spore. I haven't seen these in 10,000 years."

"This bioluminescent pulsing doesn't seem natural. It appears programmed. I think it's a code."

"A code? From who?"

Then, Hunk got hit in the face with the spore as it splattered all over him again before Pidge answered.

"I don't know. I mean, it makes no sense. You can't program a spore."

Shiro grew confident in her as Babak reminded them of standard procedure.

"If anyone can figure it out, it's you, Pidge."

"Before that, you all need immediate decontamination. I refuse to let you come in here all covered in germs."

Then, the Paladins ended up in the decontamination chamber, where they were rinsed, covered in soap, floating underwater, and blow dried before Pidge ended up blown away. Not long after, Keith, Ayame, and Lapis were trying to figure out how he got the blade.

"How do you think I got it?"

"Well, Zarkon apparently gave it to me as a gift before it was unlocked. Maybe it got passed down to you?"

"Really? By who?"

"Depends. Did your father ever talk to you about your mother?"

Usually, it's a touchy subject, but around the two of them, he felt comfortable with it, somehow.

"All I know about her was that she was... not from Earth. And she had to go back to her mission."

That was a bell ringer for Lapis.

"Exactly. Maybe your mother was pure Galra to begin with. Maybe a fellow Blade of Marmora even."

"You really think so?"

"It does make sense... somehow. But how can we be sure?"

Just then, Coran came in as Keith hid the blade under his pillow.

"Keith, ladies, did you happen to see a mouse coming through here? He has something of mine."

"Uh... no."

"We'll let you know if we find him."

"I'll find you, Platt."

Then, Ayame took the opportunity to speak to Coran with Keith and Lapis following them.

"Wait, Coran! Do you think it's possible the Galra could've went to Earth? I mean, Komar did."

"Oh, I think you would know if the Galra were here."

Upon realizing the words that came from his mouth, Coran apologized before Lapis spoke.

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"What about the Blue Lion? They must've tracked its signal with the Red Lion."

Just then, Lance and Jenny opened the door as the both of them were wearing white cream on their faces.

"Hey, why are you asking about my lion? How many lions do you need?"

"I heard Galra in there, too. You trying to solve a mystery or something?"

Keith tried to explain before Lance shut him down.

"What? No. W-we were just..."

"Don't 'What? No. W-we were just...' me! You've had your eye on the Blue Lion since day one!"

Ayame tried to help Keith out on that to no avail.

"Well, yeah. Because it's the first one you guys found and..."

"Ah! Bah-bah-bah-bah-bah! The Blue Lion's with me and we're very happy together! Very happy!"

Then, the door closed before Jenny spoke to Lance.

"Geez, dude. They were just trying to solve the mystery... whatever that is."

Then, Pidge called for everyone's attention.

"Guys! Check this out!"

At the lab, the Paladins saw a machine holding the spore as it produced the code on the screen as Hunk spoke.

"Oh, oh! I've seen this experiment. But, question: why do we need to get electricity from a potato?"

"What? No, no. I was able to crack the 'sporse code.'"

Jenny laughed at Pidge's wordplay.

"Nice one, Pidge."

"Anyway, I ran the bioluminescent pattern through a variety of code-breaking sequences including this homemade virtual Turing machine. Of course, I had to make a few tweaks to the original design, because, obviously there have been several advancements since he designed it. Although, you have to admit, Turing was a shining light in the world of science in an age when far too many are still..."

Jenny and Ayame interrupted Pidge's explanation as the former felt confused.

"Can you cut to the chase, please? All these facts are taking up my brain storage."

"What does it say?"

"Oh, yeah. 'Under attack. Galra. Help.' And then there are coordinates."

Shiro knew what it meant when it came to the Galra.

"It's a distress signal. Good work, Pidge. Get those coordinates into the castle-ship's navigation system."

Then, once they've gotten to the coordinates, they saw a brown planet with a ring of rock similar to the ring of ice on the mermaid planet as Jenny widened her eyes.

"Whoa! What planet is that?"

Coran then gave out the details as to where the signal came from.

"The signal came from Olkarion, home to the Olkari, a proud class of engineers, builders of vast cities that could change shape at the whim of their creators."

"Really?"

Catching their interest, Babak explained to Jenny.

"That's right. Their abilities allowed them to manipulate solid metal. With just a wave of their hand, they could build a computer inside a block of steel."

Pidge grew enamored with their city while Ayame and Jenny grew impressed with their abilities.

"Whoa."

"Is that really true?"

"Of course! Why, an Olkari gave me this!"

Then, Coran presented a floating black and green cube to the group as Lance spoke.

"What is it?"

"Uh, hello? It's a floating cube!"

Then, Coran laughed before he spoke again.

"And watch! My name is Coran, and I'm a gorgeous man."

Then, the cube repeated Coran's sentence.

"My name is Coran, and I'm a gorgeous man."

Then, as Pidge grew more excited about Olkarion, Keith was trying to figure out whether or not the spores were the best choice.

"Why would a society of literal tech wizards use spores to send a distress signal?"

Then, Ayame thought of another question.

"Come to think of it, why couldn't they use the Olkari Cubes?"

"Who cares? When do we get to see the city?"

Allura then downgraded her hype.

"Actually, Pidge, it isn't coming from the city. It's coming from... the forest."

Then, as Pidge groaned, it made sense to Ayame as to why they used spores.

"Oh..."

"Oh. I see why now."

At Olkarion, Ayame and Jenny tried to understand Pidge's dislike of nature.

"Why doesn't anyone ever send a distress signal from a cool place? I hate the outdoors. Nothing but sunburn and poison oak."

"What's not to like about the outdoors. There's the fresh air, flowers..."

"Playing sports, family fun time, making new friends..."

Keith could agree with them on another matter.

"I like it out here. It's quiet..."

Just then, they heard arrows darting to the lions and hitting them, causing blue light to overcome them, save for the White Lion due to its particle barrier as Keith and Lapis spoke.

"What was that?"

"Uh, are we being attacked?"

Then, the six lions' eyes turned blue before heading down to the ground.

"I don't know, but something's dragging my lion down to the surface."

"Yeah, something's pulling Blue down too."

Ayame then spoke about its condition while Jenny focused on the group.

"Strange. It's not affecting the White Lion."

"I guess we better follow you guys."

Then, the White Lion followed the lions to the Olkari before they all landed while Hunk, Jenny, and Lance spoke.

"Are those wooden mech suits?"

"Yep. Sure looks that way."

"Are you kidding me? We got taken down by a bunch of tree people!"

Then, Shiro and Ayame tried to appeal to them.

"We come in peace!"

"We mean you no harm!"

Then, the leader of the group grew hopeful.

"Could it be? Voltron?"

Then, the Green Paladin popped up from the top of its back.

"We found your distress signal!"

"Praise Lubos!"

Then, the Olkari all cheered and chanted his name before they brought the group to the forest.

"When the Galra attacked, Gyrgan helped us escaped the cities. After that, we were forced to flee into the forest."

Hearing their story, Ayame felt bad for the way they were forced to leave home before Shiro spoke.

"Well, I'm just glad you're okay."

"How long have you lived like this?"

"Many decaphoebs. But, as you can see, our people are resilient. We never stopped evolving. Instead, we adapted our skills with the environment."

This caught Jenny and Ayame's attention as the former spoke elatedly.

"Really? You blended your skills in with the environment?"

"I can tell you're impressed."

"More than you know. We're actually training to use our powers while keeping the environment in mind."

"Well, I'm sure your teacher is doing well."

Ayame smiled as they looked at the birds flying around them. Then, they made their way to the base of the tree where they saw an Olkari create a wooden mech bird that flew by the Paladins as Pidge spoke her newfound respect toward them.

"Coran was right, Ryner. You really are the most incredible engineers in the universe. To be able to switch from working with precision machinery to a bunch of sticks!"

"Nature's designs are superior to any that we could devise."

"No offense, but I'll take a computer over a tree any day."

Ayame then spoke up on an important matter.

"You guys can settle the debate later. Right now, we have to get rid of those Galra invaders."

"It's not that simple, I'm afraid. The Galra have our leader, Lubos."

The Olkari then did a reverent now for him at a mere mention.

"Lubos..."

"If you attack, who knows what they'll do to him?"

Jenny saw a straightforward way to solve it.

"Then all we have to do is rescue him. Got any ideas?"

At the city, the Olkari were being used to power up the giant cubes and assemble it as Branko, a Galra commander with a robot eye put in charge of the planet, spoke out to the oppressed Olkari.

"Work faster! Faster! For a bunch of slaves with magical, metalworking powers, they're taking an awfully long time to build my super weapon."

Then, Varek stepped up beside the commander with a smirk.

"Perhaps they need a bit of motivation, Branko. Show them their king!"

Then, four sentry drones formed a giant screen to show Lubos locked up and pleading.

"No... No more! Please, don't hurt me!"

The Olkari that saw him gasped and grew sad before they put themselves harder at work, creating the giant cube.

"That's more like it."

"This weapon better prove useful, Branko. For your sake."

Meanwhile, Ryner was showing the Paladins to the plants as Keith spoke up.

"Um... Ryner, where are we?"

"This is the armory."

Then, the Olkari used the devices on their arms to bond with the plants and create a gun that shot green bullets, surprising Jenny.

"Say what?"

Then, Ryner placed her hand on a tree, producing a green glow that worked its way to the tree before reaching the fruit and causing it to fall to the ground before opening up to reveal a cockpit as Hunk, Lance, Shiro, and Jenny spoke.

"Huh?"

"Cool!"

"Whoa."

"Now that's Strangling Fruit for ya!"

The group looked to her in confusion.

"What? It needs a code name."

Keith then spoke to Ryner about the tree mechs

"Uh, can I get one of those?"

"Of course. You can each have one."

Then, Ryner opened a flower to reveal wooden headbands before passing them on to the Paladins.

"Now, the key to operating it is understanding that the nanocellulose responds to electrical impulses from the neural pathways connected through this."

"Really? First, we're getting trained to focus, and now lesson two? I literally burned up the first lesson. How am I supposed to pass this one?"

Then, Hunk tasted it before he spoke.

"Mm. Mm! Makes my tongue itchy."

Then, Sandra slapped Hunk in the face.

"It's not for eating, Hunk. Are you really that hungry?"

Then, Ayame turned to Jenny.

"Hey, you'll do just fine, Jenny. I know you will."

Jenny still felt ensure, given the fact she almost incinerated the training grounds.

"I don't know..."

Then, Ayame put her hands in her shoulders before she looked up.

"Remember. Patience yields focus. That's what Takashi taught me. If you're having trouble, these words can help you like they did me and Keith."

Then, Jenny grew confident, adding logic to her words before she nodded and saluted her as Pidge grew confused on its design before Ryner explained.

"Aye-aye, captain."

"This is your interface?"

"Of course, all commands need to come as binary coded messages."

With that, Jenny put on a device and tried to test it.

"So, like this?"

With that, Jenny and Pidge placed their hands on a separate tree and closed their eyes before green light swarmed up their trees and caused the fruit to drop and produce mech suits, although Jenny got more than she wanted (two times as much to be exact), impressing Ryner.

"Yes! Excellent!"

Lance didn't feel as though he had any luck.

"I think mine is just a tree."

"You two must have a deep connection with nature."

Jenny and Pidge explained themselves for their reasons.

"Well, I do like to spend my time outdoors a lot."

"Not me. My allergies and pale skin don't mix with outdoor living."

Shiro explained the reason for Pidge's statement to Ryner before it became clear to her.

"Pidge is our resident tech expert."

"Well, that explains it. Like the Olkari, you understand that, at the deepest level, trees, metal, you, me... we're all made up of the same cosmic dust, all arranged by the laws of mathematics."

Then, Jenny and Pidge noticed Ayame having as much luck as Pidge did while the former spoke.

"Looks like we're not the only ones."

Ryner noticed this as well, just as Ayame got a pod down and got another mech suit ready.

"And just in time. Your friends needed a ride."

With that, Jenny, Ayame, and Shiro rode in one mech suit with Pidge, Hunk, and Lance in another, Keith, Lapis, and Belle in the third, and Sandra, Ryner, and Gyrgan riding the fourth.

"This way! To the edge of the forest! To save our king!"

Meanwhile, Branko looked on as the cube is nearing completion.

"Finally, the cube is ready to launch. Load the top Olkari engineers onto our ships and prepare for departure. After the cube destroys Olkarion, hopefully, Zarkon will welcome us back to the main fleet."

Having overheard this, Varek on snickered to himself with a wicked smile.

"You speak as if you don't have an expiration date yourself. But you're wrong. Everything does..."

Meanwhile, Ryner and the others made it to the edge and saw the giant purple and black cube.

"Their headquarters is impenetrable from the ground, but there is one way in, a small opening in the roof. It goes all the way down to an open courtyard."

Keith and Belle commented on the situation.

"That's quite a drop."

"That looks like it'll hurt without some parachutes."

"But there you will have total access to the building. The hard part will be getting to the roof undetected."

"That won't be a problem."

Then, Pidge noticed the giant cube in place.

"Hey, hey, what's that? Is that part of the building?"

Ryner saw this and grew petrified.

"It can't be!"

Jenny held Coran's cube into view in the mech's monitors as she spoke.

"That looks just like the cube Coran showed us."

"I haven't seen one of those in many decaphoebs. We used to play with them as children. But this... Only King Lubos could have designed one that size."

Ayame grew confused as to his premise for it while Lapis had a theory.

"Why would be do that?"

"They must have forced him to reveal his designs and reconstruct it as a weapon. From the looks of it, I'd say it's almost finished."

Belle and Shiro knew it'd be finished sooner or later, if not now.

"Or it could be finished already. Either way, we can't just sit around."

"Belle's right. We need to act fast. Everyone, back to base. I have a plan."

Later, Jenny, Ayame, and the other Paladins were aboard the Green Lion that cloaked itself and hovered above the roof just as Belle, Gyrgan, Trigel, Blaytz, Lapis, and Sandra mounted a resistance in the city as a distraction while Shiro made a plan.

"First, we'll need to get to the top of that tower. Since the Green Lion has stealth capabilities, Pidge, you're the drop ship. You'll take Keith, Ayame, Jenny, Lance, Hunk, Lapis, and me to the roof, then drop back to a safe position. While that goes down, Belle, you will mount a resistance with Sandra and Ryner to provide us enough time. After the drop, we'll use a sensor to scan the building for any Olkari biorhythms."

Then, the Paladins made the drop before the BLIP Tech opened up and scanned the whole building, allowing Pidge to see where Lubos was before she sent the coordinates to the team before Jenny inadvertently placed her hand on the tree and ended up feeling strange before she began to fall limp just as Ayame caught her.

"Jenny. You alright?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't go near that tree if I were you, though."

Keith saw this and grew impatient.

"We don't have any time for this. We've got to hurry to Lubos. You coming?"

"Yeah. We'll catch up."

Then, Keith looked to the other Paladins before he nodded and followed them as Jenny spoke to her.

"I'm serious. Something about that tree just felt... unnatural. For some reason, I felt... Dark Quintessence."

Hearing this gave Ayame cause for alarm before she spoke.

"Dark Quintessence? What do you think it has to do with the cube?"

"I have... no clue. But, ever since I was infected, I just get this sixth sense when we're close to whoever used it. And a... very painful one."

"You can push through it, Jenny. You have before."

"I don't doubt it. I just hope it isn't bad for my health. Let's just go to the others."

"Okay."

With that, the two White Paladins caught up with the others to find them standing by the wall and seeing Lubos watching his intergalactic soap opera as he cried.

"Betrayal! She loves you!"

Then, Shiro spoke up.

"King Lubos?"

"Yes. Who are you? The jesters I requested?"

Jenny obviously got very miffed at this comment.

"Jester?! Look, I'm nobody's jester you snob!"

Then, Ayame pulled her back.

"Alright, Jenny. Dial it back. We're here to rescue you."

"Hmm..."

Then, Lubos pushed a button before a door opened to reveal Branko, Varek, and an army of drones as Hunk spoke before Varek.

"You could've just said 'no, thanks.'"

"Looks like someone came to rescue you, Lubos."

Then, Ayame put the pieces together.

"You turned your back on your people just to save yourself?"

"Just like Prince John!"

Hearing this, Lance looked to her as he spoke.

"Yeah, I don't think he's been taking their money. But he is abusing their trust, if that's what you mean."

"I'm doing this for my people! They wanted to fight the Galra, but they are too powerful! The Galra could destroy us!"

Lance and Jenny felt it was unjustified.

"So, you helped enslave your people to build some super weapon?"

"You're stupid! Once they get what they want, they'll just get rid of you, your people, and your home!"

"Don't make me the bad guy! They forced me to do it!"

"Did they force-feed you, too?"

"Aw, snap!"

"Uh..."

As Lubos couldn't explain, Keith chose this moment to take action.

"You're no king."

Then, Keith ran at Lubos only for his attendant to shove him toward Keith, who got out his bayard and held it at his neck, surprising all but the Galra, including Varek who merely raised his eyebrows.

"We're walking out of here! Anyone tries to stop us and Lubos gets it!"

This surprised Ayame and Lance while Jenny felt miffed about this.

"Whoa, K-Keith!"

"That came out of nowhere!"

"Dang it! You beat me to it."

"La-Sai, What are you doing?"

"You betrayed our people. I cannot live this lie anymore."

Ayame smiled at La-Sai, seeing he was the only Olkari that worked with Lubos who was willing to make it right before Keith spoke up.

"You don't want anything to happen to your genius engineer, right?"

However, Branko and Varek couldn't care less.

"Oh, be my guest. His work is done. The cube is complete."

"What? But-but I thought we had a deal!"

"We did. But a deal is only as good as the man who makes it. And as I recall, you're the one made that gambit."

Then, Varek prepared a purple energy blade before he lunged at Keith and Lubos as he shouted, only to be blocked by Jenny's white chain blade which now acted as a sword although it still retained its ideal form.

"Now, do you believe me?!"

Lubos nodded quickly before she shoved Varek away to where he previously stood before he smirked.

"That won't help you, you know. Put them all out of their misery."

Then, suddenly, a blue laser shot through the walls, splitting one room with the drones and the other with the Paladins away. As a result, a hole appeared in the wall with the Green Lion peeking in as Pidge spoke.

"Your ride is here!"

"Oh, thanks Pidge."

As they went on the Green Lion, Varek saw an opportunity as the drones fired.

"Ah, what better way to test this weapon than against Voltron?"

"I like the way you think. Engage the cube! Take down the lion!"

By the time the order was carried out, the group had already secured Lubos and La-Sai when they noticed the cube rising as Jenny spoke up before Shiro and Pidge.

"Um, guys? It's rising up!"

"The cube is operational! We've got to get back to the lions and form Voltron!"

"On it!"

With that, the Green Lion took off to the forest, away from the cube.

Then, Keith shoved Lubos to the ground as the Olkari grew surprised, Ryner most of all.

"Lubos..."

"What's going on?"

Shiro and Ayame explained the situation as Jenny made a callback that the Olkari never heard of.

"While your countrymen starved, King Lubos was well taken care of by the Galra."

"He willingly helped them build that cube, willingly helped to enslave his own people!"

"Just like Prince John!"

The Olkari grew confused at Jenny's reference before she summed it up.

"You know, from Robin Hood? Take from the rich, give to the poor?"

Despite this, the group grew confused.

"Never mind."

With that, Shiro spoke up again to them.

"I know you're devastated, but it's time to be strong and use your Olkari spirit to fight alongside Voltron and take back your planet!"

"Yeah! All hail the power of Democracy!"

Then, Ayame tapped Jenny's shoulder to lower the hype.

"I think they got the message."

"Yeah. Just got pumped for a minute back there."

Then, Ryner glared at Lubos.

"Lubos, how could you?"

"I... I was only trying to—"

Ayame gripped Lubos by his collar before she spoke to him.

"We'll get to you later."

Then, she chucked Lubos to the floor before Ryner spoke to the people.

"We must free our people!"

With that, the Olkari cheered before the Paladins formed Voltron while Ayame and Jenny activated the White Voltron and Lapis the Violet Voltron. Then, they hovered above to see the cube moving in towards their position although it remained in the ground.

"All right, team, let's take that thing down!"

"Right!"

Then, the cube shot a purple beam at them as they avoided it.

"Form shield!"

Then, Voltron created a shield before it blocked the blasts as Keith had an idea.

"Let's see how tough this magic cube is."

Then, Ayame knew what type of cube it was from Jenny's hands and knew what it was.

"Hold on, guys. I wouldn't—"

It was too late. Keith had fired the blast at the cube before it absorbed it and fired it back at the Voltron Force as Pidge and Ayame spoke.

"Did it just absorb our lasers?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you before. The weapon is a giant echo cube. It takes what attack we have and fires it back."

Then, Shiro had an idea, making Jenny worried.

"We need firepower! Hunk, use your blaster!"

"Didn't you guys hear what she just said? It'll just fire it back at us!"

Shiro explained the reason for this order only to earn Jenny's reluctant answer.

"It's gotta have some pressure point built into it."

"Alright, but if we get pelted by blue lasers, I'm calling the shots."

Then, Hunk used his bayard to form a shoulder cannon and fired it directly at the cube which appeared to be breaking apart.

"Yeah, I think it's working!"

However, they were proven wrong as the laser fired back at them before the White Voltron got in the way and used its particle barrier.

"I... told you... so!"

"We can't just sit here. We've got to move!"

"You better hurry! The barrier's not looking too good!"

Then, the barrier just broke apart before it could move and shoved both Voltrons away as they screamed, making Lance and Keith worried.

"Jenny!"

"Ayame!"

Then, Voltron took off as the White Voltron was impaired. Lapis saw this and used the Violet Voltron to look after them while Voltron took on the cube before she spoke and Ayame and Jenny replied.

"You guys alright?"

"Yeah, Lapis. We're fine."

"Although, I think I've got a concussion."

"You'll live. Guys, I'll keep an eye on the White Voltron until they recover. You better figure out how to stop that thing."

With that, Shiro looked for suggestions before Lance spoke up.

"So, how do we beat it?"

"Well, maybe if we form our sword, we can cut through the surface and hack right into the center thinking point place?"

Lapis has her doubts while Keith agreed to it.

"Is that even gonna work?"

"Can't be any worse than what's happening now."

Settling on the idea, Shiro spoke up.

"Let's do it. Form sword!"

Then, Voltron formed a sword before dodging the cube's blasts and cleaving it in half as Pidge spoke up in relief.

"It's working!"

However, the cube began to act like two different beings as purple lines went around the two of them before Shiro spoke.

"It's still operational! Re-engage!"

Then, Voltron sliced through the two cubes into four as they went down and Hunk spoke up.

"We did it! They're going down!"

However, Hunk was proven wrong as they acted functional again and swarmed to Voltron like flies, catching Lance's worry.

"Uh-oh!"

Then, the cubes shot two purple lights, an orange light, and a blue light before they shot at Voltron from all sides as he blocked and dodged them with Shiro giving the order.

"We've got to move! Move!"

Voltron took off for the air, only for one cube to block it and end up shooting at it point blank in the shield before another shot at its back.

"We can't fight them like this! We need to split up! Back into lions!"

Meanwhile, Branko and Varek watched as the cube assaulted the lions.

"It seems the weapon is useful after all."

"Excellent. Neither of the Voltrons stand any chance against my weapon. Soon, I'll have both the cube and the Voltrons to present to Emperor Zarkon."

"Your weapon, Branko? I do believe it was Lubos' design, even if he was a pushover. Though, it is fitting to see his very creation destroy the planet it's founded upon."

Far away, Lance tried to counter them.

"Let's see if I can freeze these guys!"

Lance fired a beam of ice at it, only for it to freeze the Blue Lion's face.

"Oh, no! So cold, so cold!"

Then, Keith melted the ice enough for it to break away from the Blue Lion and get Lance back in the fight.

"Oh, oh. Thanks, Keith."

"You got it."

As the cubes swarmed them, Hunk spoke up to his leader.

"Shiro, what are we going to do?"

"There doesn't seem to be any way to stop them, but we can't let this weapon get into Zarkon's hands!"

Then, Varek smirked before he prepared dark lightning from his hand, causing the Paladins to see him.

"Wait a tick. What's Varek doing?"

Then, he shouted as he shot at the cubes, which absorbed the dark lightning and shot them at the Paladins, hitting the Green Lion and causing Pidge to scream as the Dark Quintessence siphoned its functions, worrying Shiro.

"Pidge!"

Far away, Lapis, Ayame, and Jenny saw this and grew mortified.

"No!"

The Olkari saw the Green Lion falling and ran to its aid as Ryner spoke.

"The Green Lion's in trouble!"

Far away, Pidge has crash-landed to the forest as she got a headache while Hunk tried to reach her.

"Pidge! Are you okay?"

Unfortunately, there wasn't any response before Ryner spoke to her telepathically, causing Pidge to wake up with a groan before she spoke.

"Pidge, can you hear me?"

"Yeah. I can hear you. Wait. How am I hearing you?"

"That's not important right now. We need to get your lion back up and running. I think we can heal your lion's body, but you must bond with its spirit if it is to fly again."

"But I thought we bonded already."

"Your bond must be stronger."

Pidge then tried to get the Green Lion working as she spoke.

"Come on, girl. I need you."

"Remember what I said. You, the lions, the Olkari... We are all made of the same essence."

Then, as she focused and closer her eyes, Pidge could hear the other Paladins' voices with Shiro and Keith speaking first.

"Where are you, Pidge? We need you!"

"Pidge!"

As the Paladins groaned in pain from being struck with Dark Quintessence blasts, Pidge connected with the Green Lion thanks to the Olkari and her lion roared as it was restored, making Lapis, Jenny, and Ayame look over to the source.

"Whoa! What happened?"

"Pidge just brought it back to life!"

"But how?"

Pidge felt it was simple science as she responded to them with Lapis speaking next to her afterward.

"Actually, I made a stronger bond with Green."

"That's good. Now, go help the team! I'll help Jenny and Ayame recover."

"Right!"

Meanwhile, the cubes knocked the lions to the ground and prepared to strike before the Green Lion arrived on the scene, making the Paladins lookup in relief.

"Guys, hang on!"

"Pidge!"

Meanwhile, Jenny and Ayame look out of their Lion to see Varek during Dark Quintessence blasts as Jenny looked to her.

"Wait. You don't think—?"

Ayame nodded to her before she called out to Lapis.

"Lapis, see if you can go after Varek. If the cubes communicate with him from far away, he has to be disconnected."

"Got it."

Then, as the Violet Voltron took off for Varek, the Green Lion sped around the cubes, making Hunk surprised at its sudden agility.

"Whoa, Pidge! What's going on? You're booking!"

"I'm not sure, but I feel more connected with my lion than ever!"

Then, the Green Lion took off to the air before forming a cannon on its back and fired a green laser from the Green Lion before it hit the cube. With that, it suddenly grew vines and got tangled in it before it fell, impressing Lance while Pidge got in the moment.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?"

"Circle up, everybody! Get some of this!"

With that, the rest of the cubes were dispatched and fell to the ground, covered in vines as Hunk chuckled.

"Vines... Well, that is not the way I thought a giant cube of death would go down."

At the station, Branko and Varek noticed the cubes were disabled.

"No!"

"Curse those wretched Paladins!"

Then, a soldier came in and spoke to them.

"Commander, we have to evacuate. The cube is down, and the Olkari have taken back the city."

Branko growled before Varek stopped him and shot a blast through his chest, knocking him unconscious as he glared at the soldier.

"The citizens would expect to find only one of us in the wreckage."

Then, the soldier smiled at Varek.

"Has the fire been lit?"

"Indeed. The Fire of Purification rises..."

Then, Varek and the soldier teleported away before the Violet Voltron got to the central command station, only to find Branko unconscious with Dark Quintessence sparking around him before Lapis spoke to Jenny and Ayame over the transmitter.

"Varek's gone, but the other guy's out cold."

"That's weird."

"What for?"

"I don't know. But I doubt it's anything good."

Later, the Olkari were back in the city as Ryner thanked them.

"I want to thank you all. You helped us get our home back. And, for that, we will never be able to repay you."

Shiro thought of one way they could help.

"Just promise me that when it's time to take the fight to Zarkon or Kaecilius, we can count on the Olkari for help."

"Now and forever."

Then, Ryner turned to Pidge, Ayame, and Jenny as the last two stood by her.

"And you... The spirit of the Olkari resides in you. The bond between you and your lions have grown stronger than ever."

"Without you, I never would've unlocked my lion's hidden power."

Then, Jenny thought about a certain 'Prince John'.

"Hey, wait a minute. What about Lubos?"

With that, Ryner motioned to him put in stocks as she spoke.

"He's confined to the stocks as punishment for what he'd done to us. It'll be a short sentence, but rest assured, no one will ever follow him again."

At the Castle, Allura, Azix, Babak, Zaltron, and Coran has received the news of their trip on Olkarion as the bodyguard and the Princess spoke.

"So, you've connected with your lion and defeated the weapon?"

"Well done, Pidge."

Pidge smiled at this before she spoke of how the events changed her for the better.

"You know, it's weird. I've always been a tech junkie. That's how I connected with the world. But, for the first time, I feel connected to everything. I guess it's like Ryner said. We're all made up of the same cosmic dust."

Then, Keith had an epiphany of his own, catching Ayame and Lapis' attention even as the others turned to him.

"So, that means we're all related. This ship, those stars, the Olkari. Even the Galra."

Ayame and Lapis grew stricken with newfound faith and hope while the others grew confused before Hunk spoke.

"Uh-oh. I think Keith just blew his own mind."

Then, Ayame walked toward Keith before she spoke.

"Well, he blew my mind, too."

Then, as Keith smiled, Lapis began to blow steam out of her ears before she spoke as Jenny tapped on her shoulder.

"Well, uh, he blew my mind three!"

"Uh, are you jealous, Lapis?"

"What? Me? Jealous? Of her? No, that's crazy."

"It's alright. You can admit it. I know what that's like. Did you honestly forget what I almost did to Nyma and Rolo?"

"Oh. Right."

Then, Jenny whispered to Lapis' ear.

"Look, maybe she didn't know you got a thing for him. But, if it helps, I've got a theory."

What's that?"

"If we're all made up of the same cosmic dust, that makes you Keith's big sister."

Then, Lapis' mouth hung open like a window as the group laughed except for Keith and Ayame who were confused by her logic as Jenny spoke.

"What?"

"Well, that was a productive trip. Look at all these cubes they gave me!"

Then, Coran tosses one up into the air, causing it to split into eight smaller ones that hovered in the air.

"Coran, Coran, the gorgeous man!"

"Coran, Coran, the gorgeous man!"

Jenny and Babak grew annoyed with Coran's voice before they spoke intermittently.

"Give it a rest already!"

Then, they both covered their mouths before the cubes spoke in their voices.

"Give it a rest already!"

Then, Hunk made a fart noise, to which the cubes copied before they laughed. However, their reprieve didn't last as they received an alarm as Coran and the Olkari cubes spoke.

"What's that?"

"What's that?"

Then, Zarkon's command center and two whole flanks of Galra Fighters arrived in front of them before Coran and the cubes spoke again.

"Oh, no."

"Oh, no."