I had to replace this section when I realized the terrible grammar used herein.

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The RoBeast surpassed any they had fought in the last six days. The Voltron Force had taken over two hours to fight through to where it wrecked havoc to the planet. It stood head and shoulders above Voltron, covered not in armor, but in hundred or perhaps thousands of spikes; looking liking a mutated porcupine. It did not bode well for Voltron.

Keith rubbed a hand over his eyes, to bring them back to focus. He looked at his trembling hand in surprise. Not now. No time for this now. The duration of each subsequent shot Gorma had given him decreased, and he had received the last one just over two hours prior. They had to finish the battle quickly before he crashed. Glancing back at the RoBeast, he realized it looked like a giant porcupine covered in quills. Keith had never seen one except in a zoo. Gentle creatures, porcupines chewed constantly because their teeth never ceased growing.

"Captain, what does porcupine teeth have to do with the RoBeast?" one of the ensigns asked him.

Keith realized not only were his thoughts wandering, but he had spoken them out loud. He was in real trouble this time.

"Nothing, just a stay thought. Ready to form Voltron! Activate Interlock. Dynotherms connection. Infracells up, megathrusters are go!"

"Let's go Voltron force!" came the resounding cry from the team.

Keith felt a surge of adrenaline as Voltron came together. They cautiously approached the RoBeast who had finally noticed the giant robot. "Careful team," Lance said, "Those spikes look deadly."

Before anyone could comment, the battle commenced.

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The RoBeast roared and a volley of spines flew toward Voltron. "Jump!" called Keith. The giant robot surged up in the air, but one of the spines scraped alongside the outside of yellow lion, sparking as it travelled along.

"Electroforce cross!" Called Keith, "Ensign, you alright?"

"Yes sir, but we should avoid those. My reading show they can penetrate our armor."

"Acknowledged. All right team, let's keep up the evasive maneuvers!"

For the next sixty seconds, Voltron jumped and turned as the RoBeast sent round after round of the deadly spines at him, without giving the team a chance to go on the offensive.

The normal banter among the team slowed as they concentrated on keeping the spines from connecting. They tried shooting missiles but could not stop long enough for a target lock.

"Team we are going to charge him and present a smaller target. Hit him with Eye Beams and then roll to the side before it can react."

"Keith are you crazy? You will be exposed!"

"Any other ideas, Lance? We are just dancing out here for its enjoyment!" Keith shot back.

Lance stayed uncharacteristically silent, no sarcastic comments forthcoming.

"On my mark team, we will hit him with eye beams!"

Voltron shot up in the air and gracefully turned a flip and shot toward the monster. The RoBeast shot in the direction as Voltron turned too abruptly for it to follow. "Eye beams!" shouted Keith. They scored a direct hit. "Pull up, and away!"

Voltron rolled as the Captain pulled hard on the controls; but not quick enough. They rolled just as the leading edge of the creature's spines reached the robot. Keith instinctively threw up his left arm to protect his face as the spines punched through and shattered the metals and polymers making up Voltron's face. The momentum of the roll prevented them from penetrating through completely, but it left Keith looking out into the open sky. He quickly put up a barrier to the wind and reached for the oxygen mask from the left side of his chair. Not good, he thought, not good at all.

"Captain, you alright?"

"Negative. Team we have to finish this quickly, I am looking through some rather large holes here."

"Keith, if you needed a break, you should have said so. Now Black will be angry you marred his paint!" Lance tried to lighten the very dangerous situation.

"Ensign, analysis!"

"We partially blinded it, Captain. If we do one more round, I think we could keep it from launching long enough to finish it off."

Keith nodded, "Let's do it!"

With that they jumped to flip over and head toward the RoBeast. "Eye Beams!"

The RoBeast let loose another volley of its deadly spines just as the Eye Beams impacted its vulnerable eyes. Keith could not react fast enough to block all of them. He threw up a hand and arm to protect his face as the spines came through the gap the RoBeast had created earlier. A hundred small stings erupted over his arms and chest. Carefully lowering his arm he called for a regrouping while he assessed the damage. The RoBeast gave chase as Voltron retreated.

"Captain? Captain Keith. Captain, respond!"

"Dammit Keith, answer us! What's happened?"

Keith looked down to assess the damage. His chest looked like a pincushion and so did his arm. Nothing seemed to have penetrated too deeply except one spine which had pushed though just below his shoulder, pinning him against the chair. He wondered how he felt no pain. Just as the thought came through Keith felt a burst of pain so intense his vision turned red. As his vision cleared, he heard the team frantically trying to hail him. Keith reached to activate the voice com, deliberately leaving the video blank. "Sorry team, some of those quills got through, and they sting a bit." He replied, pleased his voice sounded steady. "We need to finish this guy off and pray Lotor will need time before releasing another one!"

"Yeah," answered Lance, "Where do they keep coming from, RoBeast R Us? I guess there was a sale and Lotor and Hagar bought out the store!"

While a few other comments passed around, Keith used his teeth to pull out the quills in his palm and fingers. Flesh came out in chunks as the barbs did not release their hold. Hand cleared of barbs, though bleeding profusely, the pilot reached down the side of the chair for the injection Dr. Gorma had left. It contained a powerful pain killer combined with pure adrenaline. It would buy him 15 to 20 minutes to end the battle and reach medical help. He hoped. If he did not bleed out first. He finally reached it finger by finger and brought it up to his teeth to open as he could not used his pinned left arm. He dared not remove the quill from the left shoulder as he would quickly bleed to death. The quill actually worked in his favor for the moment, keeping the wound staunched. Too much bumping and jumping however would probably tear things further.

Keith placed the device over his heart between quills and pressed the activation button. He felt a brief pinch and then the surge of adrenaline and pain relief drove his heart into overdrive. He no longer felt any pain, and clarity returned to his mind and eyes. With an almost fey feeling, Keith realized he had a near zero chancee of survival, but could not fail Arus now. Not with help so close. He turned to the task at hand and reached for the controls with his good hand, "Form Blazing Sword!"

The rest of the team gasped as Keith took control and seemed to anticipate the RoBeasts moves. In less than a minute, the RoBeast lay in pieces and everyone let up a sigh of relief.

It lasted only seconds. A roar sounded close to them, and they watched in horror as a new RoBeast came charging at them.

A host of foul language came from inside Voltron as they evaluated this newest threat.

Keith let the comments wash over him as they took evasive maneuvers to give themselves time. In the corner of his mind, the young captain realized this newest threat nearly guaranteed he would not make it back to the castle in time.

He let his teammates comments wash over him as he finished the evaluation of the RoBeast. They could finish this one, but it would take some time, which Keith feared he did not have. Putting all other thoughts aside, he blinked as his vision started to grey. Shaking his head he willed himself to stay awake.

Keith looked down and realized his controls were slippery with blood, with plenty pooled around him. "Shit."

He took a breath and tried to focus, but as the blood dripped, he started to fade. The RoBeast charged and between one blink and the next it had advanced half the distance to them. The team braced for impact, but suddenly the RoBeast stopped with a surprised look on its face, then it simply exploded.

"What the fu__?" came the comment from Lance.

As the dust settled, a transmission came, "Vehicle Voltron to Lion Voltron, Jeff here. How about you all take a break and let us have some fun for a while?"

"About damn time you showed up, Jeff!" Lance said snidely, "You almost missed the party."

A flurry of comments started flowing, but Keith interrupted, he tried to speak clearly, but his tongue felt too large for his mouth. "We'll take you up on the offer, Jeff. Voltron, separate! Team, let's head home."

More comments flew over the com as Vehicle Voltron separated to join the battle. Keith's hand momentarily slipped off the joystick and Black lurched slightly. He started to feel light headed and in a strange moment almost felt as though Black righted himself until he could reach for the controls. They looked so far away and suddenly Keith felt tired. The steady drip of blood seemed almost hypnotic and all other sounds started to fade. In some part of his mind, he felt Voltron separate and knew he had to do, something, with the controls, but it just did not seem important. His eyesight began fading. The errant thought crossed his mind dusk and sunset would not occur for hours. Trying to force his mind into some semblance of alertness he reached his hand across the long gulf to the control panel to try and press the autopilot to go home. It took too much effort, and he watched, almost amused as his hand fell to the side. His com beeped at him and a voice came through. It sounded worried. Keith heard the voice again and recognized it as one of his best friends, he should answer. Rousing himself Keith tried to reply, "L-l-l-ance? C-c-can't. . .dark. . .I. . ." Suddenly exhausted, speaking was not worth the effort when he could just rest. Keith lay his head back with a sigh let the warm comforting darkness embrace him. He just felt. . .so. . .tired.

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Lion Voltron separated and the lions began their return to the castle. Black lion was weaving unsteadily toward the castle and Lance activated his com, "Keith, you ok?" Silence greeted him. "Keith, answer me buddy, you ok?"

"L-l-l-ance? C-c-can't. . .dark. . .I. . ."

Lance could hear the sound of erratic breathing and then a long sigh. Black lion began to glide toward the surface. He hit the general com button "Rescue plan Delta! I repeat rescue plan Delta!" With precision, Red and Yellow lions formed up to the sides of the Black lion and each shot out strong magnetic lines to attach to Black. Lance called to castle control "Emergency, Black lion pilot is down, I repeat down! Have a emergency team standing by, we will arrive in two minutes. Jeff! Cover us, Keith is not responding!"

"Jeff here, you are covered. Go!"

Lance fought down the panic that threatened to engulf him. Keith would be just fine. Nothing could keep him down for long.

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Dr. Gorma waited for the arrival of the lions. He pushed all emotions behind him. For Captain Kogane to live, he could make no mistakes, and had to keep a clear head. Finally he saw the rapid approach of the lions. The gasps of the technicians around him gave a hint as to the damage the Black had sustained. The worst part became clear as the lions landed as gently as possible. With more care than normal, an anti-gravity crane gently set the Black lion close to the platform the medical team stood upon to give them quick access to the Captain.

Dr. Gorma did not wait until the lion had come to rest before he keyed in the emergency override to the cockpit. Prepared as he was, he stopped momentarily in shock as he saw the Captain. The doctor could not remember the last time he moved so quickly. He saw a faint rise of Keith's chest and knew the captain still lived, but if they did not take him to immediate surgery, that would not last.

Moving quickly, he took surgical tape and stabilized the quill sticking through the captains shoulder. They would have to take extra care when moving him to prevent any further blood loss. As he taped, one of the nurses started an IV. With no place in the right arm around the quills to put an IV and the left arm obviously not a choice, she found herself in the unique position of putting in a line in the leg. Her name was Rachael, and later she would break down, but now she would do everything within her power to save this hero of Arus from dying. Pushing her horror aside, Rachael quickly cut the leg of the uniform to find one of the arteries in the leg. She started praying as hard as she ever had before that this man would live and recover. Rachael also knew she would never forget the sight that had greeted her as she entered behind Dr. Gorma.

The captain's head had slipped to the side and rested on the restraint, the only thing keeping him upright. The left arm and side of his uniform glistened with fresh blood. Rachael remembered thinking the crimson color sparkled and swirled prettily. The left arm lay flopped between his side an the pilots seat, the fingers an unhealthy grey color. The front of his chest down to his lower abdomen looked like Keith had fallen on a bed of nails. Blood dropped steadily off many of the spikes, the dull metal color awash in brilliant red. His right arm rested on his leg where it had slipped off the controls. Blood dripped steadily from the arm where the spiked had penetrated deeper. Only his legs and lower abdomen had avoided damage. Ironically, the white boots remained white except where blood pooled around the souls. Rachael knew Keith still lived, but the horror of seeing him would not dim for many years and she could not know how he still lived.

The medical team worked to stabilize the captain as much as possible. Two sets of hands held Keith steady as they released the safety harness. The medics slipped a stiff board behind him carefully not touching the protruding spine and straps fastened around his head and below where the spines protruded. They would have to steady him with hands on either side of his chest because the spines left no room. Rachael taped the iv bag to the board as the team prepared to move the captain. The medical team moved with extreme care as they lifted Captain Kogane and handed him to more people waiting on the other side of the cockpit door.

Once through the door, they gently lay him on his side on a gurney. They started to run to the medical ward. As they did the soft rasp of the captain's breathing hitched and stopped. After a few seconds it started again. The team ran faster.