Chapter 17: The Perfect Storm

At the Castle, the group were surprised to see Zarkon's command center in their orbit as the Olkari cube recombined to one before falling back into Coran's hands as Allura and Lapis spoke.

"Zarkon! How did he find us?"

"It must've been Varek. He's escaped just to tell them we've been on Olkarion."

"We need to wormhole, now! Everyone to your stations. We've got to put some distance between us and Zarkon. This could be the fight of our lives."

Everyone got to their chairs before their own monitors activated and the fighters began attacking them as Hunk spoke.

"That's sure a lot of fighters."

As they took notice, Shiro turned to the Princess.

"Allura, can you evade these fighters? We can't have them following us through the wormhole."

"I can try."

Then, Allura sped up the Castle before it produced a particle barrier and sprouted three defense drones around it while Shiro then turned to Keith and Lance.

"Keith, Lance, let's lay down some covering fire."

Then, as the Castle shook, Shiro stumbled for a moment as Ayame helped him up.

"Hang in there, Takashi."

With that, Shiro got his focus back and shot at the fighters as Pidge saw an incoming fighter above them.

"Lance, incoming, 12 o'clock high!"

"Got it!"

Then, Keith's drone bumped into Lance's, causing him to miss the fighter.

"Hey!"

"Sorry! Gotta be quick!"

Lance then bumped his drone back at Keith's before they bumped each other repeatedly.

"How's that for quick?"

"You..."

Belle had had enough of their rivalry and barked at them.

"Now's not the time for your stupid rivalry! We need to get out of here!"

With that, Shiro spoke to his team.

"Keep calling out those fighters, Pidge. Hunk, how are the defenses holding?"

"I don't know. Ten percent? Fifteen maybe? Everything's a blur. I've been up too long. I have tired eyes!"

"I know we just came off an intense battle, but we've got to stay focused, just until we jump."

Sandra was getting impatient on that just as Coran brought up bad news.

"And how long is that gonna take?!"

"They're still too close! We need to gain more speed!"

"I've got an idea. Hold on!"

Then, Allura propelled the Castle towards the moon before she sped it up, leaving Ayame worried about the turbulence as she spoke.

"Allura, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to use this moon's gravity to gain speed and put some distance between us and Zarkon."

Jenny felt dizzy from this as well as she shouted.

"You could've warned us first!"

Then, they felt the pressure of the gravity as most of the group held on, save for Jenny, who rolled around like a pinball hitting the pods as Coran spoke.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"We're clear to wormhole!"

Then, Allura opened the wormhole before they went into it with Zarkon glaring at where they had gone, focusing on getting his daughter back.

Meanwhile, in the wormhole, the Paladins were faced with another alarm as Lance spoke while Babak checked it out.

"We got away from Zarkon, how come we're still on alert?"

"The Teludav lenses are self-destructing! Which means we're about to exit this wormhole a lot sooner than we like!"

This was proven as the wormhole took them to a field of iceberg debris as Lance spoke.

"Whoa. Where are we? Looks like some sort of iceberg graveyard."

Jenny, who was still recovering from being a human pinball, blurred out her words.

"Let's not be Titanic, though, okay?"

Then, Jenny laid down on the floor in her dizziness as Allura had an exhaustion of her own.

"Coran, what's the status?"

"Checking that now. We didn't make it to our exit point, but we're several galaxies away from Zarkon's fleet."

Just then, Allura collapsed on top of Jenny, causing her to wheeze out like air out of a pool out as Coran and the others grew worried for her.

"Allura!"

Then, as soon as she was able to move, Jenny looked toward Allura and checked her forehead for temperature.

"You doing alright?"

"I'll... I'll be fine."

Ayame and Coran had their doubts about it, however.

"Are you sure? That last wormhole took a lot out of you."

"You must rest. You've been exerting way too much energy. I'll go check on the main turbine and figure out what's going—"

Suddenly, Coran took off like a rocket and smashed into the wall, leaving a wet trail behind him, making Jenny worried.

"Whoa! Are you okay, Coran? And where did that water come from?"

Coran felt his head after bumping it before he answered.

"I'm fine. Look, I tell you what, I've probably hit a slippery spot on the ground there. So, someone, please, wipe that up there!"

Allura knew what was going on.

"You're sweating. You might have a case of the slipperies."

"The what now?"

Babak then gave out the details of it, much to Jenny's worry.

"A natural disease that makes Alteans slippery in their older years. I've had my case about 10 decaphoebs before Zarkon invaded Altea."

"Disease?! So I'm gonna be slippery, too?!"

"Only in your older years. Until then, you'll be fine."

The group became grossed out while Jenny moaned as Coran countered.

"What? No! No, that's an old person virus, and I'm not old. I'm young. Well, young-ish."

Jenny tried to find good news about it as she spoke.

"Can you please tell me how long it lasts?"

"It's not harmful and usually only lasts a couple of days."

"Phew! Well, that's a relief. But still... my whole body being so slippery for a couple of days? Ew! So gross!"

"Yes, it is gross, so it's a good thing I don't have it!"

Pidge was about to spew when Jenny got out a paper bag and handed it to Pidge who immediately upchucked into it as Allura tried to help Coran feel better while Babak spoke more directly about the issue.

"Coran, it's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"I'm not embarrassed because I don't have it!"

"Just take it like a man and admit it."

"Never! And, now, I'm actually going to leave because I've got to fix the main turbine!"

Coran tried to walk out, but couldn't, due to the sweat that was on the floor until he slid out the hallway.

"Quiznak!"

Then, Jenny began to smile.

"Well, at least there's one upside to the slipperies: instant water slide."

Shiro then spoke to the others about the important issue, only to earn Ayame and Jenny's different opinions.

"All right. Since Zarkon has no idea where we are, this is the perfect time to focus on our next step. Maybe we can find that secret group, the Blade of Marmora."

"I don't think that's the best idea right now. Everyone's still recovering from Olkarion and Zarkon's attack."

"Yeah! And I was literally a human pinball!"

Then, Coran spoke to them on the monitor, impressing Pidge.

"Hello, all. I've checked the engines."

"That was fast."

"Well, I slipped right down—"

Then, Coran slipped and hit his head before he corrected himself.

"I mean, I hurried down. Anyway, the good news is, the Galra fighters did minimal damage. I flushed the turbine and it's fine."

Ayame was more concerned about the bad part.

"And the bad news?"

"The teludav, or wormholer as you Earthlings call it, is in bad shape. Several scaultrite lens-stones of the magnifying beam generator are cracked. As you know, the magnifying beam generator uses a crystal to convert Altean energy into usable fuel. That supplies the power needed to wormhole. Well, anyway, I need to remove the cracked lenses and readjust their trajectory temporarily until we can replace them. I'll also need to divert power to make up for the lost energy. It's going to take at least a quintant."

Due to Coran's slippery situation, Hunk was about to barf but stopped himself when Jenny glared at him as Shiro spoke.

"All right, we'll hide the ship and get some rest while Coran comes up with a work-around. Tomorrow, we'll be sharper and refocused."

With that, everyone went out of the main hangar with Ayame feeling uncertain.

At the Castle, Jenny and Lance were going to the elevator in their swimwear before Keith stopped the elevator for him and Lapis. While Jenny and Lapis were happy to see each other, Keith and Lance felt the opposite.

"Hey, guys."

"Hey."

Lance wasn't really in the mood as he spoke to Keith before Lapis spoke for him.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?"

"Allura said there was a pool, so we decided to check it out."

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Same thing."

This made Jenny think about someone else.

"But where's Ayame?"

Lapis widened her eyes before she pondered it herself.

"Oh, yeah. Where is she? I've got a few words for her."

"Would they be 'stay away from my crush!'?"

As Jenny giggled from her words, Lapis growled.

"I'm not jealous!"

Keith explained the situation to Lapis.

"She told me she just wanted to get some sleep. And she also told me the pool's a bit unconventional."

"Really? How?"

Jenny smiled to herself as she spoke.

"You'll just have to find out when we get there."

"Look, you guys stay on one side of the pool and we'll stay on the other, and we'll be far, far away from each other. Very... far... away."

"Cool. Maybe we can do some volleyball there."

Then, the lights in the elevator went out, much to the group's surprise before Jenny yelled and clutched onto Lance. Then, as she laughed nervously, the rest of the group sighed.

At Keith's quarters, Ayame was struggling to get some good sleep as she heard Zarkon's voice.

"Xaira..."

Then, she saw a flash of his face before she woke up startled and breathed heavily, clutching onto her chest. Then, she walked to the bathroom and tried to wash her face to wake herself up before she heard him again.

"Xaira..."

Then, Ayame looked to the mirror and saw Zarkon's face in the mirror as she staggered back in a panic.

"Zarkon?! Why are you here?! Wait. How are you here...?"

"That is of no consequence. No matter where you are, I will find you, my daughter."

"Why can't you leave us alone?! What did we ever do to you?!"

"Perhaps you should ask your Altean friends. They will tell you, won't they?"

Then, Ayame began to get the hint that Allura, Babak, and Coran have been keeping secrets as of late. After all, they hadn't known Zarkon was the Black Paladin before now. However, she also got the sense she's being manipulated.

"Why even bother telling me this?"

"Because I do care for you, my daughter. Because I need you and Voltron."

"I will never join you, Zarkon, if that's what you're trying to make me do."

"Believe what you want, but you are still my daughter. That will never change."

Meanwhile, Sandra, Hunk, and Pidge were at the kitchen as he was making glass cookies, catching their attention as Pidge spoke before Sandra.

"I thought you were exhausted."

"Yeah. Why are you making cookies?"

"Because baking clears my head, guys. Okay? I thought you were gonna help Coran with the wormholer."

"One mention of the slipperies and he got all sensitive and kicked me out."

Then, Pidge picked up a can with the Altean language and couldn't understand it.

"I hate not being able to read Altean. What is this stuff? Are you sure you're making food?"

"You're gonna try and tell me that these aren't cookies?"

Hunk took a bite of one, only for his teeth to break and cause Hunk to groan as he hit the wall in agony.

"Okay, I might have overcooked them."

Then, Pidge and Sandra started to leave.

"Wait, where are you guys going? You don't want to wait for the next batch?"

Sandra then replied as he walked out.

"It's not even real food, Hunk."

Meanwhile, Jenny, Lapis, Lance, and Keith had their backs against each other and their legs going up with Jenny linked to Lapis above Keith and Lance as Keith spoke to him.

"It's right, then left. You're off."

"You're off! And shoving too hard!"

"You're not shoving hard enough!"

Lapis and Jenny weren't fans of their arguments before, and they're no fans of it now.

"You know, this would go a lot faster if you weren't arguing in the first place."

"Yeah, it's getting annoying."

Lance then started to complain, earning the remainder of the groups' reprimanding request.

"I should be at the pool right now!"

"Would you stop whining?"

Then, Jenny noticed an air vent.

"Huh? Guys, look!"

They all looked to see the air vent before Jenny kicked it open and the girls went in before the boys followed. As they went down, Jenny laughed while Lance screamed before the four of them got out of the vent and landed on the ground to see the pool upside-down, shocking Lance while Lapis shrugged and Keith growled.

"What the heck?"

"Well, she did warn us."

"Stupid Altean pools."

"It's okay, guys. Look."

Then, Jenny ran under the pool, only to be sucked up and make a splash that went back to the pool. As she popped up and giggled, the three of them hung their mouths open.

"Come on, you guys! The water's breathable here!"

Later, Ayame was walking through the halls and saw Babak.

"Uh, Babak?"

"Hmm? Oh. Ayame. Why aren't you resting?"

"I tried, but I just... couldn't."

"I'll bet Allura knows what you're going through."

Then, she had a question in her mind that she needed to get out.

"Babak... what did we ever do to deserve this?"

Babak thought he could tell she just wanted to be back home and tried to comfort her.

"Ayame... the path to the right always gets more difficult as time passes. We few Alteans are no stranger to that."

"That's not what I meant."

"What?"

"Zarkon has to have a reason why he's attacking us. Vile and despicable as he is, the Galra aren't without reason."

"How can you be so sure? They've taken you and your brother away from Earth, without consent I might add. To top it off, they're trying to bring the universe to its knees. The Galra aren't what they were 10,000 years ago. Now, they're pure evil."

Then, Ayame gasped harshly, considering that Lapis, Azix, and Zaltron stayed in the Castle with them and wanted to help Voltron, before she snapped.

"How can you say that?! There's no such thing as pure evil! It's because of people like Alfor, people like you that made the Galra Empire take such drastic measures! You're discriminatory!"

"Well, can you blame me?! Zarkon had us convinced he'd destroyed Altea, only to enslave it and its creatures!"

"It's better than what could've happened to your people."

"Are you mad?! Our people would rather die than be slaves!"

"How did you think the Galra felt?! For all I know, you could've destroyed their homeworld!"

"WE DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE!"

That caught Ayame off guard as she was surprisingly right about that.

"So you did destroy it..."

"Regrettably, yes. But it was the only way."

"What makes you so sure?"

"You saw the effects of Dark Quintessence. But you don't know when it started. When the comet landed on Daibazaal, Alfor and his team found Alphus holding onto it. After Alfor took her in, the two grew close together like Brother and Sister. During that time, the team had lifted the comet away from its landing crater and saw another reality that was filled with life itself. But it was also filled with death, as she described it. Soon, creatures comprised of Dark Quintessence attacked Daibazaal, urging Alfor to create the five lions of Voltron whilst Kaecilius, a close friend of mine, constructed the Violet Lion, and Alphus, the White Lion. After the creatures' defeat, Zarkon insisted on continuing their work on the rift. Alfor tried to reach out to him, but he had been too exposed to think clearly. They wanted to expand the rift and rule the entire universe. Then, one day, his wife became ill after Alphus and Zarkon's argument. That day, he'd deceived his team into expanding the rift and giving her Quintessence. Then came the Darkness. It swallowed both Zarkon and his loved one before corrupting them. We never realized this and assumed the both of them had succumbed. As the rift grew, so did the danger of Dark Quintessence overcoming the universe. We had to evacuate the Galra before we destroyed Daibazaal and the rift. It was... the hardest thing we've ever had to do."

Then, Ayame began to have mixed feelings. One of sadness for what had happened on both sides, and anger toward the events that had led to this point.

"You still think you did the right thing?"

"Before, I did. But now, I'm not certain anymore."

Then, Ayame held her head down before speaking.

"I see. See you later."

With that, Ayame walked to the main hangar as Babak looked toward her.

"I truly am sorry."

Then, Ayame stopped in her tracks before looking back and speaking to him.

"Me, too."

Then, she continued walking before Babak made a grievous sigh.

Meanwhile, Pidge sat in a criss-cross applesauce position while Sandra watched as the computer spoke.

"Welcome to Altean introductory."

"Awesome! I'm finally gonna learn the Altean language!"

"Level, beginner. Safety, off."

"Safety? That's weird."

Then, Sandra had a memory come back to when Lapis tried to learn about Altea's language.

"Oh, no. Pidge, you better not get any wrong answers. Lapis used it last and forgot to turn the safety back on."

"Uh, okay?"

Then, the computer showed a bear with a flower on its head.

"Klanmüirl."

"Klan-mural."

Then, the computer beeped before the creature put in an angry face.

"Hm? Uh, what's that?"

"That's what I tried to tell you. Every time you get it wrong, you'll be most likely to kick the bucket."

"Klanmüirl."

"Klan-mirl?"

Then, it beeped before it began to bare its teeth and roar at Pidge.

"Klanmüirl! Klanmüirl!"

Then, the creature sat back down before retreating. Pidge sighed before another creature appeared.

"Huh?"

The next creature was one Sandra knew well since it helped the team reclaim Jenny and get back to the team.

"Hey, I know that guy!"

"Xznly Squiwl."

"Oh, quiznak."

Meanwhile, Shiro and Belle were looking out for the Galra Empire as they had a talk.

"Shiro? Are you sure Ayame's okay?"

"What do you mean?"

Belle: "I mean... is she really safe from Xaira? I mean, she could be the reason Zarkon found us in the first place for all we know."

Shiro immediately got defensive and snapped at her.

"Don't call my sister a traitor."

"I never said that, Shiro. It may not have been her choice. It wasn't mine when I worked for Kaecilius. She's been through a lot, Shiro. Far worse than we ever went through. You've got to take that into context."

Just then, Ayame walked in toward Belle and Shiro with tears in her eyes.

"Takashi..."

"Ayame. What's wrong?"

Then, Ayame hugged Shiro tightly before she sobbed on him.

"I'm so scared... first our mother is gone and now this? When is this going to end?"

Shiro hugged her back as he pulled her in closer.

"I don't know. But we do know how it needs to be done. The Galra Empire has to be stopped."

After what she went through, Ayame knew that it wasn't the empire's fault it committed those acts. But before she could speak her mind, Allura walked into the hangar, confusing the group as Ayame and Shiro spoke.

"What are you doing here?"

"You should be resting."

"I cannot sleep. Zarkon is out there. He's searching for us."

Allura tried to search the map before Shiro stopped her arm.

"I know how you feel, but you have to step away for a while. It's what's best for everyone."

Then, in an instant, another alarm went off before Zarkon's command center appeared before Allura spoke.

"We are several galaxies away. How could they find us so soon?"

Then, Zarkon's command center unleashed multiple fighters which attacked the icebergs and tipped the Castle, causing Hunk to drop a batch of blue glass cookies to the floor.

"Oh, no! My good batch!"

At the pool, Jenny, Lapis, Keith, and Lance were spilled out into the ground before they went back to the pool as Jenny stated her surprise.

"What the quiznak was that?!"

As for Pidge, she had to be pulled by Sandra out of the simulation's mouth before it disappeared, earning the latter's puzzlement.

"That's weird. What's going on?"

At the main hangar, Allura activated the Castle's barrier before speaking to Coran on the monitor as Babak, Azix, and Zaltron arrived.

"Particle barrier up!"

"We heard the alarms from all over the Castle, princess!"

"What is going on?"

"Zarkon found us again. Coran, are you there?"

"I'm here! Whoa! Over here! Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"Zarkon is attacking us. What's our status?"

"Wormholing will be a problem. The lenses haven't been readjusted! I don't know if the teludav will generate enough power."

"Do everything you can!"

Then, the other Paladins arrived as Lance panicked.

"They found us again? How is that possible? Is that possible? That doesn't seem possible!"

Then, Jenny smacked Lance to snap him out of it before Allura spoke.

"We'll work out the realm of possibility later!"

"Right now, we must figure out a way to get out of here."

Keith had another idea to go about it.

"Or we can stay and fight. Now's our chance. Now's our chance. Form Voltron. Enough running!"

"It's too dangerous!"

Ayame only spoke in favor of Keith.

"Maybe, but Keith's right. I'm sick of waiting for this to end. We have to make that happen!"

Shiro then spoke up to ease her temper.

"Ayame, I agree with you, but Allura's right, too. We can't take on the entire fleet by ourselves, let alone Zarkon. Remember what happened at his command center. We wouldn't have escaped if the Blade of Marmora hadn't shut down the shield."

Then, Coran gave his reports as he slipped through the room.

"The turbine's up. Still working on the worm—"

Then, he screamed as he finally hit the floor and his head before lying on it with his stomach.

"Uh, guys. I think I'm realizing now that I do, in fact, have a case of the slipperies. I'm sorry I yelled at you, Pidge. I may need your help, after all."

With that, Pidge felt a bit grossed out before she spoke with Shiro giving an order.

"I'm coming down."

"Let's clear a path."

Then, the Castle began to move off of the iceberg as it moved along with the fighters following them. The drones shot at the fighters that followed as it happened with Keith looking out for Lance.

"Lance, there's a fighter advancing on your nine!"

"Thanks for the heads-up! And you've got one going for the lower barrier!"

Then, the red drone noticed this and shot at that one.

"Good eye!"

With that, Pidge got to Coran and did what was required of her, even concerning the slipperies.

"What can I do?"

"Help me divert power. Slide me to that monitor. Wipe my sweat!"

As the fighters closed in, Lance saw his mark.

"Okay, buddy, you're mine."

Then, Lance's station began malfunctioning and shut down.

"What's going on? I lost control of my defense drone!"

Seeing this, Keith spoke up to him.

"I got you covered! Uh, I don't got you. Oh, there must be a system failure."

Pidge then spoke up, only to earn Lance and Sandra's critique.

"Nope, that was us! We're diverting power from non-essential systems to get the wormhole generator working."

"Shooting bad guys is pretty essential!"

"Yeah, I thought you're supposed to be a genius!"

Then, the Castle's functions seemed to have diminished as Hunk and Lapis spoke.

"We lost secondary controls! Thermal regulator's offline! Oh, no, there goes the particle barrier!"

"Great! Now we're sitting ducks!"

However, Ayame hasn't lost faith in her.

"Not yet. We can get out of this."

Then, Coran pulled the lever to activate it.

"Okay, try it! It should be enough to make one very small jump... I hope."

Then, Allura activated the Castle's wormhole generator as Pidge pondered of its strength and Coran chimed in.

"Is it gonna hold?"

"I guess we're about to find out."

Then, a blue wormhole appeared in front of them.

"The wormhole's open!"

Then, the Castle went in the wormhole before it vanished as the fighters scrambled. However, it also did damage to the scaultrite lens-stones.

"Oh, no! The lenses are breaking down even more! We'll be out of the wormhole even sooner this time!"

Then, the Castle got out of the wormhole and stopped at a cosmic storm as the team caught their breath as Shiro spoke.

"Zarkon keeps finding us. It's like they know how to track us down. Maybe he planted some kind of tracking device."

Allura looked at the ship and didn't find anything, concerning Ayame before Shiro put their focus on their mission.

"Well, it is nothing on the ship. The Castle would've detected any tracking devices."

"But how is he finding us without them?"

"I don't know. But until we figure out exactly how they're doing it, we should assume that they could show up at any minute. So, stay alert."

Then, Hunk was found to be snoring before he popped his own bubble and woke up startled.

"Oh, man! What's going on? What are you guys doing? What are you looking at?"

Sandra then put her hands on his shoulders, making him relax before she spoke.

"Chill out, Hunk. You just woke yourself up snoring."

"My bad."

Shiro then focused on Coran as he spoke.

"Coran, what's our status? Any good news?"

Coran answered as he skated about like an ice skater.

"Actually, there is a bit of good news. I'm finally getting used to the slipperies. My mucus glands are working at an incredible rate!"

Shiro put on an annoyed look before correcting himself.

"Any good news on the teludav?"

"I'm afraid not. The last jump overloaded the lens-stones. Now, even more of them are broken. I'm going to try some readjustments to change the beam trajectory. Until then, wormholing away will be impossible."

Then, Pidge had an idea that she hoped would work.

"Hey, there's a giant metallic storm ahead of us. I think we can hide in the eye of the storm. It should give off enough interference so we can't be tracked."

"It's worth a shot."

Then, the Castle went in the storm and descended into the eye as Allura spoke.

"Brilliant, Pidge. We're essentially invisible to any radar, radio waves, universal scans, or any other technology."

Then, its alarms blared before Zarkon's command center hovered above the Castle as Allura looked on in shock.

"No!"

At the command center, Zarkon was standing on the center platform as he was fueled by the Druids as Haggar spoke.

"I can't decipher Xaira's location. But I'm sure she's inside the Castle."

"Perfect. Send in the fighters. When they are within range, I will take control of the Black Lion and reclaim my daughter."

Then, the fighters scrambled toward the Castle.

Meanwhile, Pidge was surprised at their sudden arrival.

"Okay, I don't know how they found us, but it definitely wasn't with normal instruments."

Then, Ayame had this haunting feeling, as did Allura before they spoke up all at once.

"It's me."

Then, they looked to each other in confusion before they spoke again with Allura explaining herself.

"What? What do you mean?"

"It's been me all along. That's how they found us on planet Arus."

Then, they groaned as the Castle got blasted by the fighters.

"It doesn't matter, guys. We're in this together. We're gonna get out together."

Jenny saw this to be impossible.

"How do we do that? We're caught between a rock and a hard place."

"We need to form Voltron and go through the storm."

Lance and Hunk voted against that as the latter stammered.

"The storm? What are you, nuts?"

"Yeah! What do you mean? Yeah, why would we do that?"

"It's risky, I know, but it's our only chance. We have to go through the storm, then lure Zarkon's ship away, giving Allura some time to get into open space."

"Then what?"

"Then, we wormhole away. Coran, remember how you said getting this Castle to wormhole is impossible? Well, I need you to do the impossible."

Then, Sandra had an idea, much to Lance's confusion.

"Maybe it doesn't have to be."

"What are you talking about?"

"Pidge, remember Hunk's cookies?"

"Yeah. They had a trace of scaultrite in them."

"Exactly. That means Hunk's terrible cookies are good for something after all."

Then, Hunk growled before the seven lions went out of the Castle and toward the fighters as Shiro spoke.

"Form Voltron!"

Then, the team forged the three Voltrons before Shiro spoke.

"Team, let's draw these fighters out!"

Then, the Voltron Force swerved to the right before the fighters followed them.

"I think it's working! They're following us!"

Meanwhile, at the Castle, Allura checked on Coran.

"How's it coming, Coran?"

"In order for this to work, each remaining lens-stone will need to take the equivalent of five beams!"

Sandra saw it as a bright side.

"Then it's a good thing Hunk didn't stop making them."

At the command center, Haggar couldn't find either Voltron in the storm.

"We lost them in the storm!"

"They won't be in there long."

As the three Voltrons flew through the storm, the fighters behind them were being hit.

"They can't follow us in the storm! It's tearing them apart!"

Then, the debris hit the White Voltron's barrier as it glowed while Jenny spoke.

"Yeah, but what about us?! We'll be torn apart if we don't do something!"

"I've got you covered!"

Then, Lapis formed a shoulder cannon and shot out a purple beam at the objects around them before they all blew up. Then, Lapis took the hands of the remaining Voltrons and flew up.

"Hang on, guys! It's going to be tough!"

Then, they braved the harsh storm before the three of them popped out, only to see Zarkon's command center as Ayame spoke up.

"Now what?"

As Zarkon saw them, he felt Ayame inside the White Voltron before he spoke to Haggar.

"Bring me closer to the Black Lion and disable the White Voltron."

"Sire, we have the princess trapped. We can finish her now!"

However, Zarkon spoke for himself as he turned to Haggar.

"The Black Lion and my daughter are all that matters!"

Haggar hung her head down as an answer to his words before it went after the three of them.

At that moment, Allura saw a window of opportunity open up.

"Coran, here we go!"

Then, the Castle got out of the storm safely before Hunk spoke up.

"It worked! They escaped!"

Then, the team in Voltron, as well as the White one, felt a powerful surge and screamed in agony before the team tried to find out what was happening with Keith and Hunk speaking.

"What's going on?"

"My lion!"

Jenny saw Ayame in pain as well and grew mortified.

"Forget about the lions! Ayame's hurting, too!"

Shiro groaned before he found out what was happening.

"Zarkon... Zarkon's taking control of the Black Lion again! Fall back!"

As Voltron tried to escape, he couldn't move while Jenny tried to help Ayame.

Come on, Ayame. You can do this. Like you said, you have to end this!"

Then, as Ayame's eyes flared yellow to Jenny's surprise, Voltron and the Lions' eyes flared blue before an ion cannon hit the command center forcing Haggar's magic to fail at reclaiming Voltron and capturing Ayame as she fell with a thud to her chair.

"Ayame! Are you alright?"

Then, Ayame looked toward Jenny as she replied.

"I think I'm okay. I forgot how strong Haggar's magic was."

"I'm with you. I underestimated Zarkon's influence on the Black Lion, too."

This confused Jenny about another detail as she spoke.

"But who pulled the trigger to get us out?"

With that, Lapis got next to the other Voltrons as she spoke.

"You guys alright?"

Shiro answered her question as he spoke.

"For now, but we have to keep our distance or risk losing Voltron and Ayame. Let's disband and head back to the Castle."

With that, Sandra appeared on the transmission.

"Yeah, and you better hoof it, too. Because we're gonna need your help."

At the command center, Zarkon growled in angry desperation.

"Attack the Castle with everything we've got! Reclaim my daughter and capture Voltron!"

At the Castle, Shiro, Keith, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, Jenny, Sandra, Belle, Lapis, and Ayame were in the generator whilst holding the glass cookies in a certain position as Ayame spoke.

"What exactly is the point of this, Coran?"

"The scaultrite cookies might be able to hold for one jump, but we needed several people physically holding them. And if my trajectories were just so..."

Jenny then got the gist as she spoke up.

"They should help make the wormhole open up and last longer, right?"

"Of course. You seem enthusiastic about our situation."

"Well, honestly, I did this jungle gym I liked so much once and it was just like this."

Hunk was enthusiastic about something else.

"It just warms my heart that people are enjoying my cookies."

Sandra, however, felt it unnecessary.

"For the last time, they're not food."

"Now, nobody move if you want to live."

Then, the Castle shook, making Lance panic.

"I think I moved! I think I moved!"

Then, Jenny lifted her leg a bit to tap Lance's hip.

"Relax, Lance. It's just some turbulence."

"Easy for you to say! This is just another jungle gym to you!"

Coran then spoke up to the Paladins as he slid out before Hunk stopped him.

"Okay, now, I'm going to monitor the beam from out there."

"Wait, Coran! How dangerous is this?"

Coran stood still before he spoke.

"Honestly, this is the most dangerous thing I've ever seen or heard of, but since we're probably going to die anyway, what the heck, let's give it a shot! Good luck, gentleman and gentleladies. It's been a pleasure. Don't touch the lasers!"

Then, the door closed before Hunk grew confused.

"Uh..."

Coran then spoke to Allura via transmission.

"They're in position!"

Then, the generator began to turn on, much to Lance's panic before Pidge tried to calm him down.

"Were gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die!"

"Hold tight, Lance!"

Then, the lasers shot out as Lance screamed before it hit his cookie, only for it to neutralize the laser as Coran panicked.

"It's not working!"

"Coran, what's going on?! Zarkon's right on top of us!"

To prove this, Zarkon saw the Castle and gave an order.

"Fire the ion cannon!"

Then, Zarkon's ship charged its own ion cannon.

At the Castle, Coran tried to think of a plan.

"The stones aren't reflecting properly! I need something to shine them up!"

Then, Coran remembered the slipperies and came up with it.

"Oh. Wait a second. I think I've got it. Hit the wormhole in ten ticks!"

Then, Coran slipped in the generator with the Paladins while sliding his sweat into the stones as Allura counted down and Ayame unquoted of him.

"Ten..."

"What's happening?"

"...nine..."

"No one move! I've got to shine those stones! It's a good thing I've got the case of the slipperies!"

With that, Coran slipped and slided everywhere while shining their stones as Allura counted down.

"...six... five... four... three... two..."

Then, Coran noticed one more stone left by Hunk's feet.

"Huh?"

"...one!"

Then, the lasers began shooting everywhere as they struck the stones and reflected before Coran did one more slide and wiped his face on it, allowing the stone to be as reflective as the others. Finally, the wormhole opened up before the Castle went in and the portal vanished before the two ion cannon missed its mark and Zarkon grew annoyed that they've escaped.

At the Castle, Allura went in the generator room to check on the group.

"Great work, team! We made it! Huh?"

Then, she noticed the group was burned by the lasers (except for Jenny and Ayame) before Lance fell down.

Meanwhile, at Zarkon's command center, Haggar spoke to him.

"We were close, sire, but it appears they were able to make a full jump."

"There is no place in this universe beyond my vision's reach. Time is on my side. Set a course for Voltron."

At the Castle, Keith checked up on Ayame, who was in her bed.

"Hey."

"Hey, Keith."

Then, Keith took off his jacket and laid down on the bed beside her.

"Babak told me what you talked to him about. How did that start?"

Ayame felt it to be a touchy subject and tried to avoid it.

"I was... I was wondering about what happened to the Galra 10,000 years ago."

Keith, however, saw through her ruse and dig deeper.

"That may be what you tell yourself, but that's not the truth. Just give it to me straight so I can help you."

Ayame could go on further, but that'd rob her of some needed rest, so she finally went ahead.

"Alright. When I was resting... I saw Zarkon. He was trying to get in my head, make me feel small... What if... what if he's tracking us through me? I'm his daughter. What if he was just using me all this time?"

Afraid to even think of that possibility, Keith tried to calm her down.

"Hey, don't strain yourself. We can work it out in the morning. You've been through a lot today."

"I've been through a lot my whole life."

"Touché."

Then, Ayame giggled before Keith wrapped his arms around her.

"Good night, Ayame."

"Good night."

With that, the two of them fell asleep in their individual beds, not quite certain what next morning will bring.