From powerfulpomegranate on tumblr: Pidge finds an old Altaiean(?) gaming console and fixes it. the entire gang gets together and play what is basically mario kart (Allura destroys everyone)

Thank you so much to the support for this fic from LoserLife592, Rogu3p1rate23, staininspace, freshzombiewriter, secretlystephaniebrown, elfgiftspeaks, space-capri-suns, frostystuffs, San child of the wolves, Hana13, and two lovely guests on ffnet, AO3, and tumblr!

As for the guest and Hana13 asking for me to use character tags on , since the site only allows 4 character tags and this is an ensemble cast featuring everyone with no main character, I don't really feel right tagging any characters over the others. I hope that makes sense!

Voltron: Legendary Defender and related characters © Dreamworks
story © RenaRoo

A Simple Game
Chapter Two: Child's Play

When their disastrous excuse of a training simulation had at last been called to an end, Pidge had been all but too ready to collapse on the nearest bench or bed she could find. Her attitude had been rather soured by Shiro taking the small orb of Altean technology from her during their less than stellar performance.

Exhausted, she had found a good place to sleep, and hadn't expected at all for Shiro to follow her.

"Aw, come on, Shiro. Can't we relax a bit?" she begged from the bench, curling up over her knees.

"Honestly, the drill sergeant in me wants to say no," he said, standing over her. He then produced the small white orb, tossing it a little too carelessly for Pidge's tastes as they waited. "But I've got another assignment for you."

"Hey!" Pidge called out, jumping to her feet and easily grabbing the device from Shiro's hands. "Be careful with that! I'm halfway through my repairs." She then eyed it suspiciously. "You know, if you didn't knock loose all my hard work."

Shiro didn't seem particularly apologetic as he stood by, putting his hands on his hips and watching as Pidge opened a side panel on the orb.

"From what Hunk was saying earlier, I don't need to tell you too much about what that device's original functions were," he observed. "But just in case, I asked Allura and it does seem like this orb was used as an Altean entertainment system. A game console if you will. For younger Altean children."

Catching his words, Pidge puffed out her bottom lip and glared Shiro's way. "Are you trying to make fun of me for being a gamer geek?" she asked suspiciously.

"Not in the least," Shiro said, holding up his hands. "On the contrary, I was going to give you my own personal assignment." He waited for Pidge to raise a brow his way before continuing. "I would like for you to make that thing work, get some games on it that the rest of the paladins can play."

More than a bit surprised, Pidge blinked before ultimate squinting at her team leader.

"Is this going to turn into some sort of teamwork drill?" she asked skeptically.

"It's more like a remembering we're human drill, honestly," Shiro replied with a shrug. His eyes looked at her sharply. "Think you can do it?"

Pidge smirked, pulled a tool from her belt, and spun it expertly between her fingers. "Is that a challenge, Shiro?"

"If that helps you fix the toy faster," he said, walking toward the exit, "take it any way you like, Pidge."

The engineer blinked, watching him leave, before letting out a small snort and looking to the orb. "Toy," she repeated mockingly as she got to work.

As she worked, Pidge could not help but notice how advanced Altean tech was, and just how much more advanced it grew as she peeled the layers of programming back one by one.

Her exhaustion from training seemed to get devoured by her hunger for fixing the device, solving the puzzle that was just how the gaming platform worked. Fairly soon her entire attention span was devolved into the one track mission of solving the tech, only peripherally observing the fact that her fellow paladins wandered in and out of the area with various comments and questions of their own.

By the time she was fully aware of her surroundings, Pidge was sitting on the floor across from Princess Allura, who seemed a mixture of bemused and curious.

"Princess?" Pidge asked, blinking her red and strained eyes a few times. She tightened the last bolts on the device. "How long have you been sitting there?"

With a gentle laugh, Allura pulled her knees up to her chest. "Long enough to appreciate a perfectionist at hand."

"Oh," Pidge remarked awkwardly. She regarded the princess for a moment more before looking down to the orb. "Sorry about that! It's just that everything in the castle I've gotten to work with for the most part is really advanced and amazing, but it's always something incredibly important. Like it's hard to find something on this ship that doesn't somehow serve a huge functioning purpose." She ran her fingers over the smooth surface. "And I guess finding this thing for games and entertainment seemed… I don't know. It seemed like the most human purpose anything has served so far."

Thinking over her words, Pidge nearly smacked herself in the head before looking skittishly back to Allura. "Not human, ha. I meant most Altean thing I've found so far."

To Pidge's great relief, Allura let out a soft laugh and reached forward to stroke the orb as well. "I understand what you mean, Pidge, and I agree," Allura replied softly. "At the end of the day, what is left of Altea and my people seems to be this castle and all the things within it that were meant to assist in galactic strife and conduct." There was a broken softness to her smile as she looked at the orb. "No wonder it was so surprising to you all that our true purpose was once to serve as diplomats and peacekeepers. Not warriors. There's so little left to tell otherwise. To share how we aged, how we played."

Listening to the princess, Pidge felt her heart twist in her chest. Something she felt all the more when Allura continued to hold her fingers finely against the toy's surface.

"This was your toy," Pidge marveled, surprised at herself for not stringing the facts together sooner. "You used to play with this!"

"Of course," Allura said, growing a wicked smile. "I broke it ages ago and haven't had the time to think of it since. But now that you, my genius green paladin, have fixed it, I believe there is no choice but for us to test it out."

Pidge was still caught off guard when she realized Allura's outreached hands held meaning. She blushed before quickly scrambling to drop the orb into Allura's knowledgeable grasp.

Once Allura held the device, she shifted so that she could raise up to her knees. Pidge followed suit and watched as the Altean royalty held the device out between the the two of them.

Her fingers found purchase on the five grooves to each side which she then pressed, lighting up the machine. Allura released it, allowing it to float between them.

Pidge watched in amazement as the small orb then projected two screens out, one in front of herself and one in front of Allura.

A sharp glint appeared in the princess' eye as she reached forward and pressed a button on the screen. "Would you like to join me for a game, Pidge?" she asked.

"Would I!?" Pidge cried out, mirroring the action.

"Whoa! You guys got it to work?" Hunk's voice carried after the distant door slid open. He barreled over, plopping down on the right corner from Pidge. "Oh, man. I'm so ready for this!"

As the orb projected a third screen in front of his face, Hunk nearly rocked back and lost balance from surprise, only stopped as Pidge and Allura reached out and grabbed his hands.

"Careful, paladins," Allura laughed. "This hasn't even been the most immersive part of the experience yet!"

"Press that button in the corner, Hunk!" Pidge informed her friend excitedly. "It'll let you join our game!"

"Oh, okay! That doesn't sound too hard!" Hunk said, doing just that.

Allura's smile grew sharper and she seemed ready to press the final button to lock the game when the doors opened again, that time letting Shiro in.

The black paladin smiled broadly as he approached. "Good work, Pidge!" he complimented. "Though, I didn't expect you to take the challenge so seriously that you didn't take any breaks this whole night."

Feeling her chest fill with pride, Pidge smirked at him. "Progress – and my pride – waits on no one, Shiro," she informed him. She then waved to the available spot between herself and Allura. "Room for one more."

He hesitated in his stride, a weak smirk on his face. "I don't know… I was never much of a gamer. I didn't even care for the simulations in the academy, truth be told…"

"Oh, come on, Shiro," Hunk said, waving him over.

"Yes, Shiro! Please join us," Allura said, patting the mat beside her.

Shiro joined Pidge in looking suspiciously at the princess, but slowly he made his way to her side all the same. "Alright, then. But no one make fun of my score."

"No promises," Allura said in feigned sweetness that managed to draw both Hunk and Pidge's attention.

The moment Shiro readied his own screen, Allura was starting the game to all of their surprise.

"Whoa! There's not even a tutorial!" Pidge cried out, watching the multitude of arrows and options appear on the screen before her while the high resolution image began hurdling through a racing track with the cosmos as its background.

"Of course there isn't!" Allura laughed. "It's a simple child's game after all."

"Whoa!" Hunk cried out as his ship flew off screen, hit by some sort of flashing fruit. He glared at Allura's direction. "Did you just knock me off the course!? Princess! You play dirty!"

"I do not!" she fired back. "I simply play the game!"

Pidge watched Allura in her peripheral while trying desperately to figure out her own controls. It wasn't just a simple matter of pressing buttons as they appeared or swiping left and right for Allura. She was bobbing, weaving, and swaying her whole body as she stirred her ship. A wild and excited expression simply grew on her face with each successful move.

While Pidge attempted to match the enthusiasm, Shiro seemed to huddle more into himself, squinting at the controls. His ship was moving at a snail's pace, in the back of the racing lineup, and with nothing but the most precise of movements.

"I don't think I get this," he said.

"And you call yourselves paladins!?" Allura laughed, a wild energy lighting up her eyes. "I could beat you all in stasis!" She grinned at them all as she crossed the finish line. "I practically just did! And I've not played Racer in thousands of years!"

"Yeah, well, Allura, we've played it, like, never," Hunk laughed back.

"Yeah, go easy on us," Pidge laughed.

"Hmm," Allura hummed, tapping her chin. She then smirked to them all. "Maybe, maybe not. Either way, are you ready to play again?"

"Yes!" Pidge and Hunk yelled in unison.

Shiro squinted at his screen. "Wait, let me finish my lap up first."

They all looked to him before laughing so joyfully that even Shiro joined in.

"No, but seriously," Shiro said, pointing at his screen. "It's not going to let me go until I finish."