The Cryon IV Incident, Episode 3: Ice Beast of Cryon IV

by Papa Palpatine 2008

Notice: The characters of the Voltron franchise are copyrighted. All I own are the Krelvans, Cryon IV, and the Cryonian Ice Beasts. Side effects may include headache, nausea, spontaneous human combustion, and dry-mouth...

Errrr, let's just get back to the story...

"Why can't you just dig us out with your light sword?" Allura said, staring at the massive pile of ice that sealed her and Lotor in. She had put her fight uniform and boots back on and was even donning her thermal jacket.

Lotor sighed and shook his head. "We have no way of knowing how much of the cave has collapsed beyond what we can see; the two of us could exhaust ourselves, and the weapon's power, and still be trapped."

"But, how are we supposed to..."

Lotor put two fingers to Allura's lips. "Relax my dear. I never said we're out of alternatives."

"Huh?"

Lotor looked around the cave, rubbing his chin. He approached one of the cave walls, put his ear to its icy surface, and rapped it with his knuckles as if knocking on a door. He shook his head and said, "Solid..."

Allura watched quizzically as Lotor repeated the same procedure at several other points on the cave's walls. Finally, on what was probably the thirteenth or fourteenth attempt, he turned to her with a smile and said, "This sounds promising..."

Allura stepped toward him, but he put up a hand. "Please stand back, Sweetie."

"I am not your 'Sweetie'..."

"Just stand clear." Lotor said as he took a step back, cocked back his entire arm and fist, and then punched the wall, throwing the full power of his body into the strike. The icy wall spider-web cracked like a pane of glass that had been struck by a pebble. "Ah, one more time should do the trick..."

Lotor struck the wall a second time. It immediately shattered, revealing another passage beyond. Lotor chortled. "Ha, I knew it would work."

Allura was so overjoyed, by the time she realized what she was doing, she had thrown her arms around his neck and was a mere inch away from kissing him right on the lips. She quickly withdrew, blushed, and put her hand over her mouth.

"That's alright, my pet." Lotor smiled at her. "There will be time for that after we get back to my ship."

"N-now just a minute, Lotor," Allura replied with a stammer. "I never said I'd..."

"Let's just grab our gear and get going," Lotor interrupted. "We'll discuss that later."

"Just out of curiosity," Allura said, slinging her backpack onto her shoulders. "How did you know to do that?"

"A long time ago, when I was a child, my stepbrother Drogox and I were playing hide and seek in an ice cave a lot like this one and we were also trapped by a cave-in. Drogox found us a way out in much the same manner."

"Your...your stepbrother?"

Lotor nodded and smiled weakly at her. "My mother was but one of many women by whom my father sired offspring. At his age, King Zarkon is a father and a grandfather many times over."

"Funny, I never thought of Zarkon as the grandfatherly type. No offense."

"None taken," Lotor chuckled. With a subtle hint of sadness in his voice, he continued. "I can tell you on good authority he's not that much of a father...or a grandfather for that matter."

Allura nodded sheepishly.

"Come on," He said, patting her shoulder. "Let's get out of here."

They trekked through the kilometers of icy, underground tunnels and chambers, searching for a way back to the surface. In some of those chambers, they found evidence that the caves had once been inhabited; skeletal remains of either the things that lived in there, whatever prey they ate, or both. Allura found herself sticking closer to Lotor's side. Though she by no means completely trusted him, she knew well enough that she would be much safer with him than whatever left behind the bones she saw before her.

Already dreading the answer, she asked him, "What is all this, what kind of creatures…"

"Cryonian Ice Beasts." Lotor replied laconically.

"Ice…Beasts?"

Lotor nodded. "They're supposed to be extinct, at least three hundred years or so by now. I certainly hope that much is true."

"They were that…dangerous?"

"Yes," He replied. "By any chance did Commander Keith ever tell you of an animal from Earth called a 'polar bear'?"

"Well, yes. We even have creatures very much like them at the polar-regions on Arus. Why?"

"Well, your polar bears are benign by comparison." He said with a serious expression. "Like I said, I sincerely hope the reports of their extinction are correct and you and I don't have to find out first hand."

They passed through more chambers and tunnels until Allura suddenly stopped and gasped in horror. She shined her lantern on a pile of skeletons; human skeletons! Her eyes were wide, her jaw dropped, and her entire body trimbled.

"Allura…" Lotor tried to snap her out of it.

"Oh my God…"

"Allura, it's alright," Lotor said putting his arms around her. "These remains are centuries old, just like what we saw in the other chambers."

"But…they're…"

"Human? Yes. Humans tried to settle the Cryon System long ago. Many of them disappeared, and it's not too far-fetched to think they may have fallen prey to the Ice Beasts."

"Oh God, Lotor, get me out of her!" Allura buried her face in Lotor's shoulder and sobbed. As Lotor patted the back of her head, a conflict of emotions and beliefs arose within her. Prince Lotor had long been someone she considered an enemy, a man who sought to conquer her planet and her people, and indeed, claim her as some sort of prize; a part of her stubbornly clang to the belief that he was evil, pure and simple, while another seriously questioned whether maybe she had him all wrong. She had always imagined his touch to be cold and slimy, and yet in that moment his embrace was so warm…so comforting…

That tender, if confusing, moment was soon interrupted by the most god-awful noise Allura had heard in her life; a monstrous growl! Both she and Lotor cocked their heads in the direction of the terrible roar. Something was coming; something big, something hungry. Lotor let go of her and drew his sword.

"Stay behind me." He said, taking a strong stance and holding his weapon at the ready.

"Is it…"

"I don't know," Lotor shook his head. "Just stay back and let me deal with…whatever it is."

The monster lumbered into sight. Its shaggy coat of off-white fur scarcely concealed a densely muscular build, and standing on its hind legs, it towered more than twice Lotor's height. The creature's mouth displayed sharp, jagged teeth; all a pale yellow in color and sticky with saliva. The beast's front paws were massive; with claws that look as if they could disembowel a person is a single, swift stroke!

To Be Continued...