Pinky, Voltron & the Brain

A Crossover Literary Work of Shameless Fandom

By KittyLynne and The Bandit

Chapter 5

Allura hummed a nameless tune as she followed the maze of corridors leading to her office. If truth be told, it was a lot more like a lounge, but she liked to call it an office since it was where she always took care of all the voluminous paperwork Coran loved to draw up for her. Proclamations, certificates of valor, declarations of defiance, and Alliance condemnations of the latest Doom atrocities were the usual fare that crossed her desk. She'd be glad when the Advisor got the new word processor she had ordered for him, it would cut down on the paper waste.

When she reached the proper door and placed her hand on the identification scanner. After scanning her palm, a male voice emitted from the device. "Greetings to Crown Princess Allura of Arus. You have been identified and may enter this secured space."

The Crown Princess stuck her tongue out at the security device. Why did they have to program the thing to talk that way? If it was human, that voice would have taken the guise of an insufferably pompous little man.

Why did the mundane have to be so annoying? If she could tweak the message a little, have some fun with it...a different voice, or at least a personalized message tied to identity-now that could be a lot of fun if it were done correctly!

She spoke aloud in the style of the automated voice, testing her idea for shock value.

"Warmest greetings to Captain Keith of the Voltron Force. You are permitted to enter the Princess' personal space." She giggled. A double entendre; Lance would be so proud if he knew she'd thought of one! And there was another idea- Lance could help her reprogram the darn thing. He'd do anything to get a rise out of the Captain, which made them like two peas in pod, although the rise she was hoping for was of a different nature...

Realizing she was standing in the hallway staring at her open door with a goofy grin on her face, Allura went into the room.

The grin vanished and she groaned as she spied the pile of documents and folders awaiting her. She didn't notice the furry little rodent that skipped in right behind her before the door slid shut as she sank down in the nearest chair, which happened to be a papasan, letting the chair's bowl shape comfortably cradle her body. She closed her eyes, willing the work to disappear, then twitched as she felt a gentle tickle on her face. A wayward current of air? The touch of a butterfly's wing? The gentle caress of fingertips of her beloved?

The last thought brought on a dreamy smile. Slowly, her eyes opened.

She gazed, almost cross-eyed, at the huge pink nose, whiskers, and beady, bugged out eyes just inches from hers. And screeched.

Pinky yelled and fell backwards from the side of the Princess' chair to land something firm and yet bouncy. He lay still, afraid to move or look at what he was sitting on, imagining the imaginary weight of Nanny's skillet upon his puny head, or even worse, the painful flail of digust from his beloved Princess.

"Antonio! Are you all right?"

She didn't sound angry, only concerned. He cracked open one eyelid, saw he was in shadow, looked up, and breathed a sigh of relief. There they were, looming over his head like two pink clouds. He was sitting on her tummy, and therefore hadn't disgraced himself too badly, thank goodness. Unfortunately, there was no proper way for him to scramble out of his predicament. He put his paws to the sides of his face, trying to think of a way out.

Allura laughed softly at the sight of the blushing and flustered rodent. "I do apologize for screaming, but I didn't know you were here! Why aren't you with the others?"

Pinky stared at her, looking worried. The Brain had told him to keep quiet. How could he explain his presence without speaking?

"It's all right, I'm not going to tell." Allura assured him, as she plucked Pinky off her stomach and set him on the chair's edge, at eye level." She gave him a quizzical look. "But I don't want you to wander off and get lost in this humungous big palace. There aren't any signs to tell a new mouse where it's safe to go. It's good that you followed me, but I wonder why?"

Oh dear. This was getting complicated. But what she said about signs had given Pinky an idea. He'd always been good at charades, and she was used to talking to the Space Mice, Cheddar had said. Maybe he could sign his answer to her question. He bowed and gestured at the Princess.

"You're trying to tell me something." She guessed, and watched him as he pointed to himself, then at her, made a sad face, and then pointed to himself and ran in place, then stopped, bowed, pointed to her and made a sad face, then pointed to himself and made a happy face.

After an awkward moment, comprehension dawned on the Princess' face. "You followed me because you wanted to cheer me up? You did that instead of hanging out with the boys?"

Pinky gave her a shy grin.

"That is so sweet of you! " She sighed. "And you're wonderfully intuitive to sense my mood. If you don't mind, I could use someone to talk to right now, because I am just so frustrated with how things are going with Keith."

Pinky's face grew serious and he sat down, giving her his full attention.

"You see, I have realized that Keith is my true love." The Princess began, confiding to her rapt audience of one. "And I think- no, I'm pretty certain he has feelings for me, and I've tried to let him know how I feel about him in so many little ways, but he either doesn't get it or is choosing not to notice." She raised her hand to her forehead. "I can't go on like this, but what else can I do?"

Pinky gestured, miming a bridge over waves, drawing a heart, then running in slow motion while embracing the air.

"Oh! Are you talking about The Love Bridge?" The mouse nodded emphatically. "Antonio, I am so impressed that you know about one of our legends! But the next festival is four months away, and I don't want to wait that long."

Pinky nodded, thought for a moment, then went into character. He adjusted an imaginary jacket, smirked with hands on hips, pointed to Allura, and to himself, then pretended to hug and kiss an imaginary being, then played the part of an angry looking onlooker.

"That's a very good idea too," she said, "And I've tried making him jealous...mostly with Lance. And it kind of worked, I think, but not enough to provoke him to declare himself, or kiss me or anything. It just caused trouble between him and Lance."

Pinky hopped around, grimacing and swooning like a damsel in distress. Holding the pose, he cast a hopeful look at his hostess.

But Allura shook her head sadly. "Whenever I get into trouble, he's too focused on the actual mission of saving me to think of being romantic." Her lips twisted into a rueful smile. "Once I actually tried fainting- he caught me, gently swept me up into his wonderfully strong arms... and took me straight to Dr. Gorma, who gave me a lecture on nutrition and made me take a huge dose of castor oil."

Both mouse and Princess shuddered.

Pinky held up his paw, thought for a moment, then launched into a role play, playing the part of a flirt, batting his eyelashes and motioning with his paws, as if conversing, before closing his eyes and puckering up.

Allura blinked. "I should ask him to kiss me?"

Pinky gave her the victory sign. Allura bit her lip. "Oh dear! I wish it were that simple! But it's not! I'm the Princess of Arus! I'm the leader of an entire planet, one of the founders of the New Alliance, the pilot of Blue Lion! I have to follow certain rules..." her voice trailed away as she saw the mouse crossed his paws over his chest and gave her a look of disappointment, his tiny white shoulders slumping forward. "And... I'm a woman who is making excuses because I'm afraid to show how desperately I want to be with the man I love in case I'm rejected by him," she finished, looking miserable.

Pinky squared his shoulders, lifted his head and gazed up at her with shining, soulful eyes, pointed to himself, placed his paw over his heart, then went down on one knee, and lifted paws clasped together in entreaty.

"Oh Antonio, I'm deeply honored." Allura said, patting him gently on the head. "But I couldn't say yes to anyone else when Keith has my heart. Not even you."

Pinky smiled and shrugged, as if saying, oh well, it was worth a try.

"You are a good friend." Allura said to him. "You have inspired me. I should just ask him! He said he'd do anything for me, right?"

Pinky clapped his paws in obvious approval. Allura gave a little giggle. "I don't know about this...what if he says no?" Pinky looked indignant and adamantly shook his head. He pointed at her and cheered.

The Princess laughed. "You believe in me that much? All right! I'll do it tonight, before I lose my nerve!" Her gaze fell on her cluttered desk. " I better get to work and make sure my schedule is clear. Can't have anyone or anything interfering in Operation Kiss!"

Leaning over, she placed a kiss on Pinky's head. "Antonio, thank you so much. I don't know how you knew about me and Keith...but then again, I'm not really surprised. Love is the language that needs no words to be understood."

Back at the Think Tank, Pidge and the Brain were not feeling the love, but having differences of opinion while engaging in a silent tug of war with the Big Suit's innards.

"Hey!" Pidge yelled, lifting both the part and the mouse clutching it into the air in front of his sweating, bespectacled face. "You can't put a turbine there, it'll interfere with the warp coil!"

The Brain gave the youth his best 'don't make me hurt you' glare as he dangled in mid air. This young whippersnapper may know his way around a computer, and probably had memorized an entire astrophysics textbook, but the bespectacled whelp knew nothing of the mechanics involved in operating the Big Suit!

Pidge glared back, refusing to relinquish the turbine.

Hunk intervened, taking the part and setting it down gently. "Give him a chance. I've been watching and the little guy really seems to knows what he's doing."

Without further ado, The Brain hoisted the part to his small shoulders and scurried off, chortling to himself.

The Green Lion pilot turned to his friend, his agitation causing his glasses to steam up. "Didja hear that little cheesehead? Didja? He's cackling just like Hagar does when she gets the best of us!"

" From what I can see, the technology that powers this thing is pretty piecemeal, and runs a lot differently than our ships." Hunk said. "It's his baby, can't blame him for not wanting other people to take over. Would you want him telling you how to fix Green Lion?"

"Not that I could understand him if he did." Pidge said grudgingly. "But no."

"Then don't sweat it, little buddy. It'll be all right."

They watched the rodent get to work, expertly installing the turbine. In no time flat, the misshapen mouse had completed his task and stood back to let the one he thought of as 'Big Guy' inspect it.

"Gotta give him credit, he knows a thing or two about mechanical engineering," the Yellow Lion pilot commented admiringly as he strolled over to observe the work of the mysterious Mr. Large Noggin. "There aren't too many rodents that would be able to do that."

"None." Pidge stated, refusing to let on he was impressed. "He has human level intellience. Must be a mutant of some kind."

The Brain didn't appreciate the mutant reference, but was mollified by the realization the boy was unknowingly admiting he was of an equal intellect to his own.

Hunk looked the engine over with a practiced eye and whistled. "Nice improvisation, Noggie! Impressive mechanical skills too, dealing with makeshift equipment," he added, while checking out a apparatus that strongly resembled what Terrans called a hand mixer.

The Brain was annoyed to find he was quite gratified to hear this, but forced himself not to respond or give any indication he understood the compliment. He could, however, acknowledge the general tone of the remark, so he smiled thinly and gave the mouse version of a thumbs up.

"Looks like she's good to go, the framework is all in place!" Hunk announced. "Now it's our turn, let's soup this baby up! Ready with the weapons systems, Pidge?"

"Yep. All set!" The youth carried over some fascinating looking computer chips and panels. "I need to install these myself, " he told the Brain in a stiff but civil tone as he pointed to the Big Suit. "You can watch and learn if you like."

The Brain narrowed his eyes, but stepped aside with an only slightly sarcastic 'be my guest' gesture.

"That's a good man, er, mouse!" Hunk said heartily. "Let's get down to business!"

As the two pilots dived into their work, they missed the twin glints of triumphant satisfaction in The Brain's eyes as he watched the boys of Anime work their mecha magic.

Back in the Princess' quarters, Pinky had been making himself useful. He just loved to be helpful, and he happily licked and sealed all the envelopes Allura passed to him.

"This is so tedious, isn't it Antonio?" She remarked after the better part of two hours had gone by. "If only we could get access for computers for everyone on Arus so we didn't have to send out these mass mailings. You are so nice to help me."

Pinky tried to reply, forgetting that he was supposed to keep quiet. Mercifully for The Plan, the glue from the envelope had riveted his sizeable tongue to the roof of his mouth so that he could only grin, which seemed to satisfy the Princess as a response. They continued to work in companionable silence until a quiet scratching at the door startled both of them.

"What was that?" Allura said, rising from her desk. She strode over to the door panel and listened. After a few seconds, the scratching could be heard again, louder and more insistent this time, accompanied by what sounded like a meow.

"A cat?" The Princess frowned and glanced in concern at her guest. "Hm. Maybe one of the new staff members let it in. Anyone who's been here awhile knows we have a ban on cats here out of respect for my little friends."

She went to press the panel to open the door, then stopped and returned to the desk to scoop up her guest. She placed him to one side of the door, right below the control panel, and smiled reassuringly at the nervous looking Antonio. "There is a small recess there that you can hide in if the kitty happens to get past me," she advised. "I'll get someone to take it outside. I will protect you, I won't let it hurt you."

After Pinky took cover, she opened the door, kneeling in preparation for a feline to come creeping or running in. Nothing came into view. "That's odd." Allura stepped out into the hall, and glanced both ways. "It must be around here. Stay hidden, Antonio. I'll just walk down the hallway a short distance and check. "

Pinky nodded, and watched her depart with an uneasy feeling jabbing through his gut as he remembered that he had only ever seen one cat infiltrate the castle on the show, the one that belonged to that evil witch...

It was then that he heard the Princess cry out. Pinky started to scramble down from the ledge, then reversed course to jump back up to the ledge above where he hit the big red button he had noticeed and was sure had to be an alarm. As the klaxons went off, he scooted down to the floor, ran to the door, and peered around the corner and out into the hall. The sight that met his eyes confirmed his worst fear.

At the end stood the Princess, now confronted by the most fearsome looking blue cat with yellow eyes Pinky had ever seen. TV had not done it justice, it was way bigger and scarier in person. Its backside was high in the air, its mouth was open in a feral grin, and its dagger sharp claws gleamed as it crouched. It was getting ready to pounce!

Without hesitation or consideration of the foolhardiness of his action, Pinky scurried down the hallway, and put himself between Allura and the wicked creature. Those claws would tear into Allura, he couldn't allow it! He squeaked angrily, and put up his fists.

The evil feline, diverted by what looked to be a gangly but tasty morsel, broke off its attack on the Princess and focused on the mouse.

"Antonio, no!" Allura cried. "Get back in the room! This is no ordinary cat!"

The heavy clatter of approaching guards filled the air and the cat looked behind it, knowing it had to escape or be captured. Lunging forward with unexpected speed, he grabbed Pinky by the tail, turned and ran off.

The mouse tried to yell, but the glue still kept his tongue from functioning. Silent and helpless, he swung crazily back and forth as his captor ran.

The Princess and her guards gave chase, but the wily cat eluded them all. The stupid sentimental humans couldn't fire on him while he held the rodent as a hostage. This one didn't look or taste or smell of the Arusian mice he was accustomed to, but it had been with the Princess, who talked to mice. That made it a prize that Hagar was sure to be so pleased with, she might actually let him have this delicacy to play and munch on after she had thoroughly interrogated it.

He jumped out of the nearest open window with swift agility, and ran along the parapets to a coffin shaped pod concealed between their peaks . The lid to the craft opened, the feline leapt in, and the hatch closed behind him. A moment later and the cat and the mouse were airborne, heading toward Planet Doom.

"Antonio!" Allura shouted, watching the departing coffin ship with eyes filled with horror and tears. "You dear, sweet, noble mouse...why didn't you stay hidden?"

There was no time to waste. Spinning around, she pelted toward Castle Control, after punching the communicator and notifying Coran to round up the team.

She had told Antonio that she would protect him, and she intended to keep that promise.

To be continued...