She had been sitting on a rooftop in DC, legs dangling off the edge when she felt it. The energy cut through her thoughts, bringing everything to a standstill. Flashes of gold popped into her mind, unbidden, and she rose to her feet without even thinking about it. It was quite obvious that this was not something that she would be able, in good conscience, to ignore.

He had been enjoying a hot cup of tea in the city, taking a break from his usual... less than legal activities in order to rest for a while. The energy blast came to him in the form of monotonous gray shades. Much like the one before, the feeling pulled him to his feet and out into the daylight. He wasn't certain as to where he was heading, but he chose to just let his body decide for him.

She was reading in her dormitory when it reached her, studying political science at the college she currently attended. There was an exam the next day, and she wanted to be prepared... but fate had other ideas. Flashes of white invaded her vision, causing her chest to well up with excitement. Curious, she rose to her feet and set her book to the side. It could wait.

He was enjoying authentic Altean food at a café that had decided to accommodate the alien invaders. Not that he minded - he found the food delicious, in spite of the fact that most other human beings hated it. Teal crept in on the corners of his vision, and he rose to his feet, pulled in the direction of the energy's source. But not without taking his plate with him, of course.

Finally, he had been attending a gala that his prominent parents had forced him to go to. Bored out of his mind, he counted the purple color that came to him as a sort of blessing (although, at first, he had thought he was getting a migraine.) Straightening his jacket, he rose from the table he was seated at and promptly left the gala in search of whatever it was that was calling to him.

{[ Voltron ]}

Luxin's POV

Luxin had been surprised to find that there were suitable paladins much closer than two hundred miles. In fact, though it would still take some time for them to reach himself and Arin, it wasn't going to be nearly as long as he had initially been anticipating. Which was excellent, considering he was tiring of Arin's stories. They must have been stuck in the Altean ship for many hours at that point, because he had heard dozens of stories about the young teen's family, childhood, and time at what she called the Galaxy Garrison. So much so that her voice was growing hoarse. The Altean was tempted to tell her to stop, but the stories were entertaining, and it wasn't as though he disliked the small human.

But the sense of urgency to escape the situation they were in escalated a thousand fold when, in the middle of a story about one of Arin's eleven-year-old twin brother's getting the lead in his school play about something called "Romeo and Juliet," the girl's voice trailed off. At first, Luxin had thought that she was (finally, finally, finally) taking a rest, but that suspicion was proven incorrect only a few ticks later, when she started to speak once more.

"Hey, Luxin?" she asked, voice slightly rough simply from how long she'd been talking. "A few of the guards are here to take me somewhere else. What should I do?"

The Altean furrowed his brows and made an attempt to see through her eyes, but their connection wasn't strong enough for that. "Is there any chance you'd be able to fight them? Maybe get away and come find me so that we can finally get out of here?" It was a long shot, but Arin had proven herself fairly physically capable before.

A soft sound of disapproval came from the teen, and Luxin could picture her shaking her head. "I don't think so. They've got guns."

"Quiznak."

"You're tellin' me!"

The two fell silent for a couple seconds, wherein Luxin expected the guards were escorting Arin out of the cell. He could practically feel the gears in her primitive, human brain turning over and over again, trying to find some way out of the situation.

"...I'm gonna try and escape, anyway."

Luxin rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh. Why was he not surprised?

{[ Voltron ]}

Blake's POV

It hadn't taken long for Blake to find the source of the golden energy she'd felt pulling her from the rooftop. A massive Altean castleship stood in place of what used to be the White House (supposedly a show of the Altean people's complete takeover of the United States government.) The energy emanating from it flashed in the color she'd originally pictured, but she couldn't reach it just yet. Much like the White House had been, this castleship was heavily defended. Instead of a fence, it was surrounded by a blue forcefield, and Blake did not dare to touch it. Instead, she looped around, studying it thoroughly in an attempt to get a grasp on what she might be able to do in order to reach the ship.

She had gone around it twice when she ran into them. Them, in this instance, being a small group of four other teenagers - three boys, and one girl. Blake thought she might have recognized one or two of them from her time in the Garrison, but there wasn't enough time to dwell on that now. Instead, the tall nineteen-year-old approached them, shoving her hands in the pockets of her ripped black jeans.

"You guys here for the same reason I am?" she asked, electric blue eyes narrowed as she took them all in. The young woman wasn't normally one for socialization of any type, but she figured that this was probably one of those times it was required. Especially when the four of them were very clearly studying the forcefield, just as she was.

The one who responded was one of the boys - he stood at around two inches less than her own five-foot-nine, with deep bronze skin and black hair that reached down to his jawline. Oddly enough, he was wearing a very nice black-and-white tuxedo. "If you're talking about the purple energy surrounding the castle, then yeah. That's what I'm here for," he replied, and four sets of brows knitted together in confusion.

"...The energy is obviously gray," stated the tallest of the group - he was a few inches taller than Blake, herself, with neck-length blackish hair and amber eyes.

Tuxedo-boy looked back at the castle, supposedly to check and see what color he saw, and the shortest boy spoke up. "I think it's more teal, actually," he said, lazily chewing on something that looked like yellow slop. Blake found Altean food to be highly disgusting, and apparently the other three did as well, for they took a sharp step away from the short boy. He didn't seem to notice, however. His dark brown eyes, partially obscured by his half-black, half-white hair, scanned the castle with a quiet thoughtfulness.

"Maybe it's all of those colors," placated the only other girl of the group - a thickly-curved blonde with stunning greenish blue eyes. She had a small smile on her lips, and her hands were held out in the signature, 'Why can't we all just be friends?' stance. "We're all here for the same reason, after all. I personally don't think that it matters."

Blake nodded her head once, running one hand over the shaved side of her hair. "Blondie's right," she agreed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Arguing like that isn't going to get us in there any faster."

The "blondie" in question shifted slightly, her smile not faltering in the slightest. "Um, my name's actually Nikolette. Nikolette Vestergaard," she corrected lightly.

"I'm Min," the shortest boy replied, having finished his gross Altean dish and tossed the bowl to the side. Fortunately, it was made of a sturdy plastic, so it did not shatter when it came into contact with the pavement at his feet.

Next, the boy in the tuxedo stepped up to speak. "My name is Kaiden King," he announced, a smirk on his face as he addressed the others. He didn't seem to have a problem with addressing the group, and stood with the perfect posture of a politician onstage.

A few seconds of silence passed before Blake decided that it was likely her turn. "Blake Noxic," she introduced shortly, and then all four of them turned their attention to the tallest boy, who shrugged one shoulder and introduced himself in the same way Blake had done. He looked violently uncomfortable with all the attention.

"Ren."

Nikolette grinned brightly, clearly pleased now that everyone wasn't arguing. "It's so nice to meet all of you!" she chirped, and was rewarded with a few nods and smiles from some of the others. Blake, however, was much more interested in figuring out how to get past the damned forcefield that surrounded the castle. The energy's glow was getting more and more dim as they stood there talking, and she didn't want to wait and see what happened when it faded entirely. She didn't want to miss this opportunity... whatever it happened to be.

"That's great and all, but there are more important things to do here," she stated calmly, narrowing her eyes at the castle. "Anybody got any ideas on how to get in that place?"

{[ Voltron ]}

Arin's POV

A few minutes earlier...

"They're shooting at me! They're shooting at me" she yelped, full-on sprinting down the darkened hallways of the ship. Bright pink beams of energy zapped past her, a few nearly making contact. Honestly, she hadn't expected them to actually use their weapons on her, because they hadn't done that before. After all, weren't the Alteans supposed to be peaceful?

Well... she supposed it was kind of her fault... but still.

Luxin was freaking out in her mind, Arin was freaking out in reality, and everything was chaos. She was more than happy that the guards hadn't landed a solid shot on her yet, but damn if her knee wasn't screaming for a break. Perhaps one year wasn't entirely enough rest for a leg that had been so deeply damaged, she realized belatedly. But there was nothing she could do about it at the moment, so she forced it to go faster as she barreled through the halls, occasionally running facefirst into one. It was pretty dark, and she wasn't exactly paying attention to where she was heading.

"You're an idiot! A complete buffoon! What made you think that this was a good idea, in any sense of the word?!" Luxin screeched as Arin narrowly avoided having one ear shot off. She could feel the heat from that shot. It was all becoming a bit too much, and she had no clue as to what she could possibly do to get out of there alive.

She didn't respond to the Altean screaming in her head, instead paying more attention to the ones chasing her. They were far more terrifying, screaming things like, "Catch the paladin!" or "She knows too much!" or even "Blast her quiznaking head off!"

So much for peace.

Making a sharp left turn when the hall opened, Arin yelped when she connected hard with something solid and very much alive. She and the poor sap she'd accidentally tackled fell to the ground, and she was entirely unsurprised to find that it was another Altean guard that fell victim to her assault. Luckily, he had dropped the gun he held in his hands, and it clattered to the ground toward the teen. Instinctually, she picked it up and got to her feet, kicking the guard in his helmeted head once to hopefully stun him further before bolting back in the direction she was heading.

"I have a gun now," she updated Luxin, completely breathless. It had been a long couple of days.

She heard the Altean scoff in her mind. "And just what do you plan on doing with that?" he demanded, his voice cracking toward the end of his cry. "That is not a human gun, you know!"

Arin ducked, another pink energy bullet flashing over her head. "All you gotta do is pull the trigger, right? I got this!" she tried to assure the anxious man, though her own heart was hammering in her chest. Was it possible to have a heart attack at sixteen? Because she was ninety-nine percent sure that was going to happen.

Fortunately for the escapee, there was a room up ahead at the end of the hall, and she ducked inside, wasting absolutely no time in closing it behind her and shooting the hand scanner with her pilfered weapon so that they wouldn't be able to come in after her.

Exhausted, she bent over, resting her hands on her knees and wheezing heavily. She stayed that way for a couple of moments, just catching her breath, before glancing around the room to try and figure out exactly where she had trapped herself.

Holographic monitors and key pads were set up all the way around the room - which was empty, thank god. "I think I found some kind of control room," she told Luxin, who was still screaming at her through their mental connection. It was already getting pretty darn easy to ignore him, which she believed would come in handy. The man was pretty annoying, and to have him constantly connected to her mentally... it was like being stuck on the phone with that one aunt you really don't want to talk to.

"Oh, yeah? What are you going to do? Pilot an Altean battleship?"

"I could do without the sarcasm," Arin pouted, walking over to the biggest of the monitors and squinting at the indecipherable text scrolling across the screens. "And no. I'm gonna break an Altean battleship."

Before he could respond, she raised the gun she'd stolen, and fired a shot at the base of the computer system.

{[ Voltron ]}

Blake's POV

Present time...

No sooner had she asked the question than a distant explosion sounded, followed by the flickering, and then the complete disappearance of the forcefield. The five teens stood, shellshocked for just a moment, before the boy named Kaiden shrugged his shoulders and trotted toward the ship. He got about a fourth of the way there, and then turned, arching a brow at the four others (who had yet to move from their positions.)

"There's a saying - don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I think we should take that into consideration, here," he told them, light brown eyes full of anticipation and mischief. It looked to Blake as though he was excited to go into the castleship itself.

Regardless, his words were enough to get the other four going, and they jogged after him. The energy was tantalizing, alluring, and felt like it was cLalling her very name as she approached. Looking at the others, it became clear that they were experiencing a similar type of feeling. Not because they were smiling or anything like that, but because their eyes were so fixated on the castle that Blake was the only one capable of taking her eyes off of it.

The five of them reached the castle, surprised to find that the door was wide open. Apparently, whatever had caused the explosion before had taken out the power on the ship - even if it was just momentarily. Taking Kaiden's advice, they all took the opportunity for what it was and just walked in, albeit with some measure of caution. They weren't idiots, after all, and a couple of them even seemed hesitant.

Even so, they all made their way inside.

Blake moved to take the lead, eyes narrowed against the darkness inside. Luckily for all of them, Ren had his phone fully charged, so they could use that as a flashlight to fend off the worst of the blackness surrounding them.

The energy was palpable once they began traversing the halls. None of them spoke - it was quiet inside, and Blake suspected that they didn't want to disrupt that. There was always the chance that the Alteans could find them there, and Blake really did not want to deal with that at the moment. There were no recorded cases of an Altean actually causing serious damage to a human being, but, then again, not many humans had ever broken into one of their massive battleships.

This was probably a first.

"Intruders!" shouted a voice from their right - the hall had split, and an Altean guard was approaching, gun drawn and at the ready. "Halt! State your names and intentions!"

And they all halted - for a second, at least. Blake had come this far after the energy, and she'd be damned if she was going to be stopped by a single Altean. She lunged forward, swinging one leg around to kick the gun out of his hands. Then, when he raised his fists to protect himself, the teen had to dodge backward to avoid a sharp punch that likely would've knocked her on her ass.

The Altean went after her, and she feinted back again, attempting to gauge when and where to strike. Blake ducked down to dodge another large fist, and looked up just in time to see a cell phone flying through the air. The corner of it connected perfectly between the Altean soldier's eyes, and he went down like a sack of bricks. Blake raised her brows and looked over her shoulder - all of the other teens were staring, wide-eyed, at Kaiden, who had his arm outstretched. Apparently, the tuxedoed boy had been the one to use the cell phone as a sort of projectile.

"Thanks," a surprised Blake told him, and he just shrugged with a smug little grin.

"No problem," he responded, trotting up to pick up his discarded phone. Illuminated by Ren's own phone, it was clear that the screen was completely shattered. Kaiden just dropped it back to the ground, unfazed. "I learned that trick from another student at the Garrison. It's stupid, but it works when you don't have much else to use as a weapon." Huh. So he'd been a student at the Garrison, too, then. Perhaps they'd met at some point.

But they could always talk about that later. For now, they needed to keep going.

First, though, Nikolette insisted on bending down to check and see if the Altean was still breathing, because at the moment, she was the only one who cared. After making sure he was, the group continued on their way, down the hall the guard had been in.

They traveled in companionable silence for around fifteen minutes before anything else remotely interesting happened, because this castle-ship-thing was massive. And this time, they weren't interrupted by an Altean - no, in this instance, the quiet was broken by none other than a vent. It popped off the wall above their heads and Ren shone the light immediately in that general direction.

A human head and shoulders popped out of the hole left by the vent's cover - it was a young girl, her skin blackened with soot and her hair spiked up on one side, which were both likely from the distant explosion they'd heard. Pale green eyes looked almost clear in the light from the phone, and they widened when they spotted the group. "You guys aren't gonna shoot me, are you?" she asked, one brow quirking as her expression morphed into something more skeptical.

The five glanced between one another, a bit dumbfounded, and then looked back at the girl in the vent. "None of us even have a weapon," Blake told her, belatedly realizing it might have been a good idea to pick up that Altean's gun from before. Maybe having it would've been more useful.

"Do you need one?" the girl asked, producing a slightly-sooty Altean gun from the vent behind her. "I'm not a very good shot with this thing."

Min stepped up to take the weapon from her, studying it as it rested in his palms. "I'm a pretty good shot with normal guns," he explained to the group, and the girl slithered her way out of the vent to place her feet on solid metal beneath her.

"What's your name?" Nikolette asked the girl, a smile forming on her lips. Apparently, she was one of the friendlier of the bunch.

The sooty girl mirrored her smile, a single dimple popping out on her left cheek. "My name's Arin Galinsky," she told the blonde. Blake vaguely remembered that name from her time spent at the Garrison. "Who are all of you?"

In turn, they all introduced themselves, starting with Nikolette and ending with Kaiden. Arin's eyes widened when he said his name, and she trotted forward to get a closer look at him. Her mouth popped open, and then she offered him a bright grin. "Kai! Wow, what are the odds?" she asked, reaching out to pat him roughly on the shoulder. Kaiden gave her a completely blank, unamused face in return. "It's been way too long! Like, a whole year, right?"

"And... who the hell are you?" the dark boy asked, light brown eyes dull as he regarded her.

Arin blinked a few times, clearly confused, before she responded, "We were teammates. You were our team's engineer - I was the pilot? That boring dude - John - was our communications guy? Remember?" she prompted, tipping her head to the side. "We literally spent a year as together as a team."

Kaiden shrugged one shoulder. "Sorry, not ringing any bells there, Amy."

"Arin."

"Right."

The Galinsky girl opened her mouth to speak again, then jumped and looked sheepish. "Right, sorry, Luxin," she said, reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out a colorful hexagon. "I'm assuming these guys are the other paladins. Tell me if I'm wrong." A smirk crept onto her lips and she tossed the object toward Kaiden, who reached out to grab it on instinct. "Catch."

All of the teens watched in confusion, and mild awe, as the purple section of the hexagon illuminated at the boy's touch - namely, Kaiden himself.

There were a few beats of silence before the boy extended his hand with the object on it toward the others. "He says we should all touch it at the same time," he stated, watching the hexagon with wide eyes.

Well. This day couldn't get much weirder. Blake stepped forward first, placing a finger on the gold side, which lit up under her touch. After her came Min, then Nikolette, Ren, and Arin. Each of their respective colors shone brightly when they made contact, and the shape itself glowed from within. She wasn't exactly sure why, but feelings of excitement, bewilderment, and pure inspiration filled her chest as she watched the light spill out from the touch of the six hands at once. And then a voice rang out from within her mind, stealing the breath from her chest.

"Hello, paladins."

"That's Luxin," Arin explained to the group, green eyes scanning each of their faces. "He's an asshole."

Blake could've sworn that the voice she'd just heard sighed before he continued, "You all have been called here today for a higher purpose. Since we are short on time, I believe it would be easier to simply show you."

Vivid imagery burst from behind Blake's skull - giant, beautiful metallic Lions running across the sky to join together. In their stead stood a massive robot, painted in the colors of the hexagon itself. Inside the Lions were each of them - Arin in Orange, Kaiden in Purple, Ren in Gray, Min in Teal, Nikolette in White, and Blake in Gold. Stars and planets and people of all races - human and inhuman - appeared, and the Altean flags were removed from the skies.

We're supposed to save the world.

The realization hit hard, and Blake's eyes widened at the implication. "Are you sure about this?" she asked the voice - Luxin, she reminded herself. He had a name.

"Honestly? Not at all," came the response, and Arin scoffed.

"See? Asshole."

Luxin groaned and Blake got an image of him pinching the bridge of his nose. "As I was saying, I am entirely uncertain about any of this. However, in this moment, you six are the universes' only hope."

This time, it was Kaiden who snorted. "You understand that you suck at inspirational speeches, right?"

"I'm a scientist, not a wordsmith," Luxin defended himself, and surprisingly, the group all let out nervous chuckles. This whole situation was so absurd, and the banter seemed so out of place... it just couldn't not be funny. Blake hadn't known this group for very long, but from what she'd seen... they were probably the least qualified to save the universe out of literally everyone that existed.

Ren spoke up from where he stood across from Blake. "Do we know where these Lions are?" he asked, amber eyes narrowed as he watched the hexagon.

Luxin was silent for a second before he spoke, "Well, it seems we're in luck. It just so happens that the nearest Lion is... right under our feet!" He sounded surprised. "These bastards must have been keeping him hidden to stop Voltron from forming."

"Is it the Orange Lion?" Arin asked, bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet.

"I am afraid not," the Altean voice told her, and Arin visibly deflated. "It would appear that this particular Lion is the Teal Lion. So, you are the lucky paladin today." Blake had no idea how she could understand that his statement was directed at Min, but she certainly could. "If you could lend me a bit of your energy, I can attempt to synchronize my quintessence with the Teal Lion's to awaken it for a brief period of time. At least until we can get you inside."

Min nodded his head, a lazy smile stretching over his lips. "Take all you need, I guess."

He didn't sound particularly enthusiastic.

Regardless, Luxin went quiet once more, and the surrounding paladins held their breath. But then, all of a sudden, the world burst open with sound. A thundering, terrific roar shook the ground under their feet, and they took their hands off the hexagon. Still, Blake could hear Luxin as he screeched, "Get out of the castle NOW!"

None of the six of them needed to be told twice.

They all dashed out through the halls from where they came, Ren in the lead so that he could light the path. Though, really, the phone flashlight was bouncing around so much so that it didn't help much at all. So they ran more on instinct than sight as the ground shook and crumbled, and the castleship groaned with some sort of unseen strain. A few times, Blake had to help a smaller paladin up after they fell down, but she honestly didn't mind much.

It appeared that they were going to get out scot-free, until the entrance was just in sight. Then, a dark figure stepped in front of them, blocking the light and brandishing his gun at the group. There was a massive goose-egg bump on his forehead, which told Blake that it was the same Altean guard from before.

"You are not going to get away from me this time," he growled, taking aim at them all.

Arin reacted swiftly, darting forward and leaping into the air to slam both feet into the Altean's chest at the same time. The breath whooshed from his body, and the both of them flopped to the ground, both landing hard with metallic clangs as they hit.

"Do you honestly never think before you act?" Luxin asked, his question directed at the Galinsky.

"No, she doesn't." Kaiden strolled over casually and arched one brow down at Arin before reaching one hand down in a halfhearted gesture to help her up. Regardless, the girl took it, brushing herself off afterward (though, honestly, it was a moot point, as she was absolutely filthy. Covered in sand and soot and dirt.)

Green eyes flashed in annoyance when she looked up at the tuxedoed boy. "You do remember me!" she stated, affronted.

The other teen scoffed and rolled his eyes, a smirk playing out across his features. "Of course I remember you, ya dumbass. It's only been a year!" He laughed, showing off white teeth and crinkled skin around his eyes. "And you clearly haven't changed at all."

"And you're already being a douchebag," she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a tired glare.

Luxin decided to interject at that moment. "Humans, the castle is quite literally about to crumble to the ground. Perhaps we could carry on this petty dispute outside, where we won't be crushed?" he snapped, and that was, once more, all the prompting they needed. The six jumped over the Altean guard's unconscious body like it was a hurdle, and once more, Nikolette insisted on making sure he wasn't dead. Only, this time, the blonde also insisted on dragging him out into the clear so that he wouldn't die when the castle did collapse.

Blake begrudgingly assisted her.

The two of them got the Altean outside just as the castle gave one last groan and broke to pieces. Dust flew everywhere as it dropped to the ground, and the paladins had to cover their eyes to keep the debris out of them. The sound was deafening, only magnified by the roar of the Teal Lion as it shot out from underneath the fallen castle. Blake's eyes popped open wide as the green-blue creature shot into the air and dropped to the ground in a crouch, yellow eyes fixated on Min as the dust began to clear. She could've sworn she heard it purring at the teen.

Smiling, the black-and-white haired boy stepped forward and extended his hand to touch the muzzle of the beast, and its jaws opened up for him to step inside. Which he did, happily, leaving the other five paladins staring slack-jawed at his disappearance.

Had... had it eaten him?

"Are you humans all completely daft?" Luxin's voice called out to them through their mental link, snapping them back to reality. "Get in after him! We've got work to do!"

And, so... they did.

{[ Voltron ]}

An - Hey, guys! I was hoping to get this chapter out earlier, but then it got longer and longer and longer, until it took me six or seven hours to finish! It's 5,222+ words long, so I hope you can understand the slight delay, there xD

CREDITS

Blake Noxin - Fool Arcana Kaiju

Ren Chevalier - HiroshitheHawk

Nikolette Vestergaard - Azlea

Min-Seo Kang - kazumiokazaki

Kaiden King - Altomi

Here's the other paladins! I absolutely adore the group we've got. If your character was not accepted, please do not feel bad. I couldn't have 15 paladins forming Voltron, and though each and every character I received was absolutely awesome, I couldn't take them all. I just went with who I thought would fit in best, so please don't be upset if you didn't get in. I'll still be accepting side or supporting characters, preferably of alien races, later on in the story!

Oh, and for the people who did get into the story, please begin telling me what your characters thought of the other paladins. It'll be very important for how I write later on down the line.

And... that's about it! Read, review, fave, follow, and enjoy~

Love,

anim8or