Pinky, Voltron & the Brain

A Crossover Literary Work of Shameless Fandom

By KittyLynne and The Bandit

Chapter 3

When the space mouse called Cheddar concluded his discourse, he looked at the strangers with an expectant air.

The Brain's smile had slipped and then turned downward as he strained to grasp the gist of what Cheddar had been squeaking about.

"Brain, are you going to answer him?" Pinky asked his mentor quietly, after several seconds had ticked by.

"I'm working on it." The Brain muttered. How humiliating! Fluent in twenty- five human languages, but he hadn't understood a word of what a creature from his own species had said. He wasn't about to admit that to anyone, though, least of all, Pinky. "He spoke softly... I confess I couldn't hear everything clearly," he began, the excuse sounding lame even to him.

"Poit! I believe he asked us if we were shot down by Zarkon's forces and if we needed assistance in repairing our ship." The gangly mouse supplied helpfully.

"A good guess." The Brain arched an imperious eyebrow. "But honestly, you don't really understand what he said, do you?"

"Well yes, actually I do Brain. He's speaking a very common field mouse dialect, with a thick accent. It's rather similar to Arnold's back at the lab."

The eyebrow lowered. "Arnold?"

"Arnold Schwartzenmouse, the chap from Austria that has huge muscles that he likes to flex, with veins popping out all over!" The pink nosed mouse wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"Oh, him." The Brain nodded. "Acme is using him to test those new steroids. He's a droll fellow, smarter than he appears. Throws out extremely catchy one liners. It's too bad I haven't found a use for his wit and ability to bend cage bars."

"He's really too big for the likes of our little network," Pinky said. "He should be in the movies instead of a cage."

For a moment, the two lab rodents stared off into space pondering the injustice of it all, but were interrupted by a chatter of alarm from Cheddar, who evidently was worried they'd suffered some kind of injury in the crash, according to Pinky.

"Apologize for our discourtous inattention, Pinky, tell him we are all right and that we need help and materials for our 'Suit Ship'," The Brain murmured in reply to his companion, hoping that he wouldn't be questioned as to why he was delegating authority.

His cheerful cohort relayed the message without hesitation, amid several loud 'poits' and 'zorts'. Cheddar nodded enthusiastically to whatever had been said, and rattled off a monologue that Pinky appeared to understand, but which also heightened the Brain's anxiety about what was being said and the response his addled companion would give.

Pinky answered rapidly in the same dialect. He listened to the rejoinder and started to snort and chortle, with the Space Mouse joining in the laughter after a moment of hesitation.

"What? What? What's so funny?" Brain snapped at Pinky in an undertone.

"He's wondering, since we'll need replacement space suits, what helmet size 'Mr. Large Noggin' wears," Pinky said. "What a funny, funny nickname, can I call you that, Mr. Large Noggin, sir?" He giggled, then abruptly ceased at seeing the fierce scowl on his friend's basset-hound-like features.

"Don't make me hurt you, Pinky," The Brain said through clenched teeth. "Not in front of the Princess. She'd probably faint."

"Oh no," Pinky whispered, casting an adoring gaze upon the lovely Allura. "We mustn't have that!"

It was fortunate she was looking elsewhere, The Brain thought. Differences in species aside, it was clear that the black haired mullet man held her in his thrall. "Was there anything else?" He prodded Pinky with impatience.

"Oh yes, we are to come back to the Castle with them now, Cheddar said he has a guest room in his quarters that we can use. Then they will find us the materials we need for our ship!"

"The Castle? We are to stay in the Castle?" The Brain raised his little paws, about to warble his customary 'Yes!' but thought better of it, as he spotted the inquisitive looking humans. If they didn't hear him speak their language, he'd be able to overhear so much more that way!

"Relay our thanks, Pinky, and let's go!" He said, keeping his chortles to himself. So far, everything was going exactly according to his master plan.

"Looks like Cheddar was able to get through to them," Pidge commented, watching the strange looking mice falling into step behind the Princess' tiny friend. "Look how they walk on their hind legs, it's almost like they're human!"

"They sure don't look any mice I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot of them." Lance agreed, eyeballing the approaching critters with trepidation. "The tall one looks like he has a screw loose," he added.

"Oh no, the little one has such a misshapen body." The Princess said, her eyes moistening with empathy as she stepped forward and bent down to greet the little visitors. "He must have been through something awful."

"Captured and tortured, most likely." Pidge said to Lance. "Escapees from Doom?"

"Why would Doom care about torturing a couple of mice?" Lance scoffed.

"The same reason they do anything." Hunk said grimly. "Because they think it's fun."

"Well they're safe now! Hello! If you come in peace, you are welcome on our planet. " Allura declared with warmth as Cheddar translated her words. Her smile was radiant, a beacon of goodness and inner beauty. The Brain bowed courteously while his companion just stood and stared at the Princess.

"Bow, you dunderhead," his leader hissed at him, but the besotted mouse curtsied instead. Allura giggled as The Brain covered his eyes and shook his oversized cranium in obvious disgust.

Obviously, Pinky was captivated at seeing his dream woman for the first time without glass distortion or bad reception separating them. His grin was beatific, his eyes glowed rapturously, and for once he was incapable of uttering so much as a 'poit'; a situation for which his intellectual partner silently gave thanks. The less his peculiar cohort said, the less likely it was that The Plan would be discovered.

The Princess held out an elegant hand, palm up, and Pinky at once followed Cheddar in hopping aboard, with a reluctant Brain bringing up the rear.

"You poor creatures must have suffered horribly, oh dear, look at your tail!" Allura cried, turning her hand to better inspect the Brain's hindquarters and the extremity that resembled a jagged lighting bolt.

The brilliant rodent twisted around in bewilderment to stare at it as she continued to murmur words of dismay. What was wrong with his tail? Nothing, it looked the same as it always did!

"You needn't be afraid that anyone will do you further injury, my little friends. You shall be my special guests, and the boys will help you with rebuilding your transport." The Princess informed them kindly. "Hunk and Pidge are wonderful at fixing all sorts of spacecraft, aren't you boys?"

"Sure thing, Princess," the large one called Hunk boomed, "we'd be happy to help them out."

As Cheddar translated, and the two visitors smiled and nodded, although of course they had understood her the first time. The Brain took the opportunity to look around at the assembled group. They were clearly a team, but even if he hadn't known who was their leader, that unmistakable air of command would have made it evident. Lucky for The Plan that Keith didn't seem as distrustful or ill mannered as Lance of the perpetual smirk and boorish stare. The Brain returned Lance's unwavering scrutiny with a stare and smirk of his own. ~Take that, fool! No one out-smirks the Brain!~

Lance's smirk turned to a frown. "Little dude's got a bad attitude," he murmured to no one in particular.

"You should know about that." Keith said. The Red Lion pilot shot him a dirty look.

The Brain blinked, the only outward sign of surprise. So, beneath his noble pronouncements and the ridiculous boots, the Captain had a bit of an edge. Interesting...

His ponderings as to if Keith might be incited to incapacitate Lance were interrupted by the youngest member of the Voltron Force.

"Greetings, visitors. They call me Pidge." The Green Lion pilot introduced himself with the air of one stating a well known fact. "I'm the only one around here that understands the mice other than the Princess. Cheddar, tell the large headed one to say something, and I'll translate."

As Cheddar rattled off the request, The Brain felt a cold sweat break out on his brow. What was he going to do, he couldn't squeak the mouse dialect to save his life!

For a moment panic rose within him. It was over. He would have to confess he was clueless. But his brain kept working, life in a laboratory had trained him well to deal with the unexpected, and he recklessly decided to improvise.

Striking a dramatic oratorical stance, one paw thrust into the air, the other behind his back, he intoned, "Squeak squeak, squeak,... squeak squeak, squeak...squeak!" He paused. "Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeakitysqueak, squeak squeak squeaky squeak squeak."

A deep silence fell over the glen.

Pinky and Cheddar looked at each other in stupefaction, and then shrugged.

"What did he say, Pidge?" Allura asked.

Pidge scratched his head. What the deformed rodent had just said was total gibberish, as far as he could tell, but dare he admit that and look bad in front of his buddies and the Princess? They probably wouldn't believe him, and his credibility would be shot to Hades. "Uh, I think maybe he's probably still in shock from the crash,what he said was rather garbled."

"Aahhh, just admit it, you never know what those creatures say, you're just a lucky guesser," Lance taunted, grinning at the boy's put out expression.

"Can you make out the gist of it, Pidge?" Keith asked. "He's obviously trying to get something across, he seemed pretty focused on what he was saying."

"Yes, Keith. Whatever it is, he is clearly emphatic about it." Allura nodded at the Black Lion Pilot and he blushed, which in turn made her blush. Their gazes locked for a moment, then both looked away, the ebony haired man seeming unusually unnerved.

Pinky and Cheddar, who were paying close attention to this byplay, exchanged meaningful glances. There was definitely something going on between the Captain and the Princess. You could just see it written in their beet red, flustered countenances.

"Have they confessed their love yet?" Pinky whispered to his new acquaintance in mouse squeak.

Cheddar sighed and shook his head.

"What a pity." Pinky said sadly.

"Well, Pidge?" Keith prompted his teammate, his voice sounding a trifle husky. "What do you think?"

"Um...I think he might have been vowing loyalty to the Princess, and eternal vengeance against evildoers like Zarkon." The Green Lion pilot improvised, not wanting to disappoint his leader.

Pinky and Cheddar looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

Brain took a deep breath and tried to look as righteous as he could as all eyes turned to him. Apparently, he wasn't the only genius individual around here not willing to admit to some shortcomings, but the boy had given him something to work with and he took it. He bowed, and tried his best to look like someone who fought tyranny.

"Well I think any enemy of Zarkon is a friend of ours!" Hunk said heartily. "So now that we're friends, should we head back to the castle and get these two some food and equipment to fix their rig?"

"Yeah!" The others exclaimed in unison.

"They can ride with Cheddar and me in Blue Lion," Allura said. "That is, if they trust me."

Cheddar and Pinky nodded and squeaked their thanks, with the Brain following suit in a more dignified tone. But even he had to admit to a bit of a thrill at his illustrious perch as the Princess gently set her new companions on her shoulder.

"She smells good, doesn't she, Brain?" Whispered Pinky. "Like wildflowers and sunshine."

"Yes." The Brain murmured, only a bit sarcastically. "If only we could bottle that smell, we would be rich beyond our wildest dreams of avarice."

But all cynicism fled when they entered Blue Lion. The Brain goggled at everything, feeling as giddy as a schoolboy, er, mouse, in taking in all the splendid technology before his eyes.

The usual ritual was performed to start the lions, coupled with roll call. Within moments, they were airborne. ~Impressive! Magnificent!~ The Brain enthused silently as he sat watching the famous infracells, thrusters and dynotherms perform flawlessly. ~Voltron is a marvel! I must know its secrets for myself!~

Pinky leaned over and whispered, "What shall we do now, Mr. Lar- I mean, Brain?"

"For now, enjoy the ride. And keep your mouth closed."

"Zort!"

To be continued at the Castle! :D