After a not so long journey and dealing with Rolo and his team to get the Blue Lion and Lance back, the Alteans and the Paladins have arrived at the Balmera to save Shay and the Balmerans, as the Castle of Lions approach to the living planet, and the team stands in the Main Bridge.
"We'll be arriving at the Balmera soon. Liberating these Balmerans from Zarkon's grasp will not be easy." Said Allura as they approach the Balmera.
"So, what's the plan to free the Balmera, for all I know we can't go in Gun blazing." Said Lana looking at Allura.
"What, we go in there and just. . . Pow, pow, pow!" Said Keith imitating laser fire and Lana look at him with a quirked eyebrow,
"What was that noise supposed to be?" Asked Lana in confusion.
"Uh. . . Laser guns, it was the best I could do." Said Keith blushing in embarrassment. 'Oh great, why did I have to do that, and in front of her?'
"Not bad, but they're more like. . . Pew, Pew, Pew!" Said Lana imitating laser fire.
"No, Lana, I think you mean. . ." Said Hunk imitating a huge laser cannon. "Pow!"
"That sounds like fireworks, Honey-Bee." Said Lance looking at Hunk.
"Technically, they're more like. . . Ba-choo, ba-choo, ba-choo!" Said Pidge imitating firing a small laser gun.
"Okay, enough with the bad sound effects. . . Besides, it's more like— blam, blam, blam!" Said Shiro dramatically imitates firing a laser gun.
"What?" Asked Keith in shock.
"You're crazy." Said Pidge disagreeing with Shiro.
"No way." Said Lana disagreeing Shiro's fire laser imitation.
"Wrong." Said Hunk frowning at Shiro.
"Paladins, focus." Said Allura in a serious tone.
'Okay, I'm not sure which one of them have the laser guns sound affect right.' Said Blue looking confused.
'Yeah, I don't understand why they need to make sound affects.' Said Red looking confused.
'But you have to admit, Shiro's laser gun affects are kinda funny.' Said Yellow chuckling.
'Yeah, and the way he did those poses.' Said Green chuckling as well.
'Okay, yeah it is pretty funny.' Said Black smiling at the lions.
"Besides, we can't just shoot at the Galra. This Balmera, it's, like, alive. And from what we've seen, it doesn't look very good." Said Hunk as the image of the Balmera's lifespan is showing.
"Yes, it's an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this grand beast. Stealing its Crystals, its very life force, without ever performing the energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it." Said Coran showing the image of the Balmera's life source.
"Wow, I never knew the Balmera is actually a living being, it look like a normal planet to me." Said Lana looking at the Balmera in the castle's holoscreen.
"While it may look like a planet, the Balmera are gigantic living beings, literally planets in their composition." Said Coran explaining to Lance. "They naturally produce crystals that the Alteans used to power their ships and the like, but in order to remove the crystals, a member of Altean high society had to perform a ritual in order to atone for the cost for the Balmera. In such a way, balance was preserved."
"Woah, I bet it must've been a beautiful sight to see the crystals." Said Lana looking at the image of the Balmera.
"Yes it is, but since the Galra do not perform the ritual, the Balmera is severely injured every time a crystal was removed." Said Coran looking saddened.
"After seeing Shay's people enslaved, it made me realize how bad Zarkon really is. And we're the only ones who can stop him." Said Hunk looking confident and Lana is proud of his best friend.
"Okay, so we can't go into the tunnels guns blazing. Plan B. We figure out how to draw the Galra up to the surface and battle them out there." Said Shiro trying to come up with a plan.
'But how exactly are we going to do that?' Asked Black trying to think.
"Wait, I know! If we attack all of this big mining stuff on the surface, the Galra troops will have to come out to defend it. Then we beat them up, head down to the tunnels, Voltron saves the day." Said Hunk explaining his plan.
'That's a great idea, Hunk.' Said Yellow smiling at Hunk.
"But how will we know how many are left down in the tunnels?" Asked Keith crossing his arms.
'Yeah, we don't want to make the mistake of walking into a trap or being captured by many Galra soldiers.' Said Red agreeing with Keith.
"Keith has a point." Said Lana making Keith blush a bit. "How are we going to avoid being caught by the Galra?"
"We can track the Galra and the Balmerans using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology." Said Allura bringing up a hologram of a BLIP drone.
"Oh, BLIP tech!" Said Pidge smiling but Allura didn't understand and stares at Pidge silently. "It's an acronym?"
"One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the shafts on each side." Said Allura as the hologram imitates the plan. "Then we'll be able to see where the Galra and the Balmerans are. There are already sensors built into your suits."
"I can do it. I just modified the Green Lion with the invisible maze's cloaking ability. I should be able to fly around unnoticed." Said Pidge smiling at her team.
"Wait, you mess around with your lion Pidge, you know that they aren't really mechanical robots, but they are actual lions, and they can be delicate." Said Lana getting concerned.
"Don't worry Lana, Green here actually didn't mind, she use her quintessence to connect the cloaking from her mechanical body." Said Pidge smiling at her lion.
'Yeah, and I'm actually excited to use it.' Said Green smiling at Pidge.
"That's their main power generator." Said Said Coran bringing up an image of the Balmera's surface on screen. "If you take that down, it will severely weaken their defenses."
"We'll stay in cloud cover and give tactical support. With the Castle's defenses weakened from Sendak's Crystal, we won't be of much help to you." Said Allura with a regretful tone.
"I'll take out the power generator. Keith, Lance, Hunk, you take out these big mining rigs around the area." Said Shiro instructing his team.
"Yeah! Okay, let's do this! Let's go kick some alien butt!" Said Hunk in excitement and Lana smile at her best friend.
So the Paladins have all change into their armors and head to their Lions hangers, and they are preparing to launch.
"Do you think the Balmerans will have a parade for us after we've freed everybody from the Galra?" Asked Lana as she look at her computer console.
'Maybe, it's been a long time since I seen a parade with my previous Paladin.' Said Blue happily and Lana received a video transmission from Keith.
"It's not about the glory, Lana. It's about freeing prisoners from Zarkon." Said Keith reminding Lana.
'Keith's right Blue, freeing people from the Galra is serious, it's not all about parties or parades.' Said Red reminding Blue.
"I know, but still when we do rescue them, they will show us their gratitude, by either throwing a party or parade." Said Lana smiling at the thought.
'Lana has a point Red, it would be great to enjoy a party or a parade by the Balmera's, for rescuing them and they show us they're gratitude.' Said Blue smiling as well.
Then all the five lions launches from their hangers, and they fly towards the Balmera's surface, and then the Galra structures start firing lasers at them.
"This is it. Get your heads in the game. Remember, the Balmera is a living creature." Said Shiro instructing the Paladins. "Make sure you pinpoint only the Galra installations and not its surface."
"Initiating cloak, Green." Said Pidge to her lion.
'You got it, Pidge.' Said Green smiling at her Paladin.
Then the Green Lion separates from the group and turns invisible to drop BLIP drones in each mines. Lana takes out several Galra laser cannons with pin-point accuracy from the Blue Lion's tail cannon, while Hunk uses the powerful Yellow Lion to physically smash more Galra weaponry to pieces.
"How do I take this thing down?" Asked Shiro trying to come up with a idea.
'Shiro, use my Jaw Blade.' Said Black displaying his Jaw Blade on the screen of the cockpit.
"Jaw blade. . . Okay, let's do this!" Said Shiro with a smirk.
So Shiro activates the Black Lion's jaw blade and flies along the arcs powering the generator, slicing each one until the structure explodes. Meanwhile, Pidge and the Green Lion have finish dropping all the BLIP drones in the mines.
"All sensors delivered." Said Pidge informing Allura.
Then Allura began to bring up the holographic map of the Balmera and all living lifeforms on the computer of the Castle of Lions. Meanwhile back at the fight, the power generator was still active and massive laser cannon attacking the Red Lion, but Keith was able to dodge it.
"Great, what do we do, Red?" Asked Keith to his lion.
'Use my fire, Keith.' Said Red showing Keith his heat ray.
So Keith began to activate the Red Lion's heat ray and began to fire at the power generator, causing to melt through the cannon's tower.
"Whoa! Did you guys just see that, I got fire power!" Said Keith surprisingly excited.
"That's amazing, Keith!" Said Pidge in excitement.
"Oh, good for you!" Said Lana feeling a bit jealous. 'Aw man, I wanted that.'
'Actually Lana, be very glad you don't have fire power, and you didn't do anything stupid like that.' Said Blue sounding a bit upset for what Red did.
"What do you mean, Blue?" Asked Lana looking confused.
'Red may have destroy the generator, but he melted through the the tower, and it's going to. . .' Said Blue till she was cut of when the cannon tower begins to fall towards the Balmera's surface. 'Fall.'
"Oh, no!" Said Keith realizing his mistake.
'Oops, I guess I didn't think clearly.' Said Red sheepishly as Hunk and Yellow flew right under the tower.
"Hey, we can't let this thing hurt the Balmera!" Said Hunk struggling to hold the tower upright with the Yellow Lion.
'Guys, please come up with something quick, I don't know how long I can hold it!' Said Yellow using all his strength to hold the tower.
'Lana, use my freeze ray, it'll stop the tower from falling.' Said Blue showing her freeze ray to Lana.
"I think Blue knows what to do!" Said Lana as she activates the Blue Lion's freeze ray to freeze to coat the fallen tower in ice and prevent its collapse, as Hunk and Yellow flew away in time. "Yes! That's how me and Blue do it!"
'That's right, and we actually made a pretty ice sculpture.' Said Blue proud of the sparkling ice sculpture she did with the tower.
The ice sculpture glitters from the sun as Lana and Blue smile at their proud work. Keith and Red both look at the Lana and Blue at how they successfully prevent the tower from hurting the Balmera, and blush at how smart they were.
"Great job, team!" Said Shiro as they all land on the ice covered generator.
So the Paladins and the Lions all wait for the Galra troops from the Galra Empire to appear, however nothing happen as the troops didn't appear.
"Where are all the troops? They're not coming to the surface." Asked Keith receiving a video transmission from Hunk.
"Yeah, I remember seeing a lot of Galra guys down in the mines." Said Hunk remembering when he and Coran were at the Balmera getting a Battleship Class Crystal.
Inside the Main Bridge in the Castle of Lions, Allura is looking at a map of the Balmera and radios to the Paladins.
"We've located a hangar full of Galra fighters just below the surface." Said Allura informing the Paladins. "Someone has to take those out before they can launch."
"They're luring us down, but we have no choice." Said Shiro beginning to instructing his plan. "Keith, Lana, you guys hit the hangar. Hunk, head to the prison to rescue Shay and the other Balmerans. Pidge and I will track down the Galra soldiers."
"Yes, sir!" Said Keith following Shiro's orders.
"Ten-four!" Said Lana listening to the command.
"On it!" Said Pidge agreeing with the others
"Let's do this!" Said Hunk excitedly.
So the Paladins and the Lions all flew down to the shafts of the mines inside the Balmera to free the Balmerans.
Meanwhile at the Galra Empire Main Ship, Thace approach to Commander Prorok at Zarkon's Central Command System.
"Commander Prorok, we have word from the troops on Balmera X-95 Vox. The informants were right. Voltron is there." Said Thace informing his commander.
"Excellent. Everything is going according to plan." Said Prorok smirking evilly.
"How do you wish to proceed?" Asked Thace looking at his commander. "Should we inform Emperor Zarkon?"
"Contact Subcommander Ylvik. His fleet is awaiting my command." Said Prorok instructing Thace. "Tell him it's time to attack. I will update the Emperor."
"Vrepit Sa." Said Thace as he goes to do as he's command.
Meanwhile at the Balmera, the Paladins have drop their Lions at the bottom of mine shafts. Once they landed, the Paladins each leave their Lion at the bottom of mine shafts and navigate the tunnels using their speeder; to protect themselves, the lions activates their force field. Down in the bay, Keith and Lana made it to the Galra hangar, and check over to see it is only being guarded by a few robot Sentries.
"The entire hangar's only being guarded by a few Sentries." Said Keith as he readies his Bayard and prepares to attack. "Let's go!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it right there, Keith!" Said Lana grabbing Keith and pulls him back. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"What are you taking about, Lance?" Asked Keith frowning at Lance.
"Don't you remember all that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?" Asked Lana looking at Keith. "Not to mention we can't risk hurting it more, since this place is crawling with Galra."
"Oh. Right." Said Keith understanding the situation.
"Yeah, I mean it was bad enough you almost hurt the Balmera when you melted through the generator's tower without thinking, we can't just blow things up like a psycho." Said Lana giving Keith a look.
"Oh, you got a better idea?" Said Keith frowning at Lana.
"I do, we'll sneak across on one of the support beams, get into the control room, and seal the bay doors." Said Lana explaining her plan. "That way we don't hurt the Balmera and the fighters will be trapped and can't launch."
"That. . ." Said Keith about to argue back till he realized that Lana is right. "Actually. . . Is a better idea."
"There you see, all you have to do is calm down first and think before you do anything." Said Lana as she starts heading to the support beams.
Keith blush a bit at how smart Lana is for coming up with a better idea than his. So Keith and Lana start sneaking towards the hangar's control room to proceed Lana's plan.
Meanwhile back at the Castle of Lion, Allura and Coran are tracking everyone's movements with the BLIP tech that Pidge put in the mine shaft, and down at the mines, Hunk is in his speeder traversing the mine tunnels.
"Allura, Coran, what's my location? All these tunnels look the same." Said Hunk communicating with Allura and Coran. "I can't remember where the prison is."
"You're on the right path. Turn right at the next tunnel." Said Coran looking at the map. "Once you get there, you'll have to disable the energy doors. Be careful. It looks like it's heavily guarded."
Meanwhile at the hangers, Keith and Lana are breaking in to the control room of the hangar from above, while a Sentry stands at the controls. Then Keith uses his Bayard katar to slice a hole in the ceiling above the Sentry, and Lana kicks the hole open, crushing the Sentry underneath its weight, and both the Paladins enter the control room.
"Keep an eye out for those guards, I'll see if I can find a way to shut the hangar doors." Said Lana looking at Keith.
Keith nod his head as he stands watch to see if any sentries are coming. Then Lana began to inspect the computer console. However Lana couldn't be able to understand anything in tent console as he presses some buttons, but nothing happened.
"Ah, I don't know what I'm doing here. It's all Galra gibberish." Said Lana looking confused.
"Let me see." Said Keith as he walks over.
So Keith began to inspect the computer console and then puts his hand on the hand print, which activates the bay doors and close them, so the Galra Fighters won't leave.
"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Asked Lana looking at Keith in shock.
"I just put my hand on the hand print." Said Keith looking at his hand.
"Well, at least the Galra Fighter's won't be launching anytime, good work Keith." Said Lana smiling at Keith, causing the Red Paladin to blush.
Meanwhile at the other side of the mine shaft, after reaching the prison, Hunk is assaulted with laser fire from Galra Sentries - although most appear to be fleeing. Then Hunk leaves the safety of his speeder and began blasting the enemy with his Bayard cannon on and easily won.
"That was way too easy, I definitely don't have a good feeling about this." Said Hunk getting suspicious.
So Hunk uses the broken Sentry hand to unlock the prison doors and witnesses more Sentries fleeing, as he lasts them quietly, he finds Shay's family, and they are happy to see him, except for Rax.
"Hunk, you have returned!" Said Shay's father as they greet Hunk, except for Rax, who sits aside.
"I promised I'd be back. We're here to help." Said Hunk and looks around for Shay. "Where's Shay?"
"Our life may not have been perfect, but our family was whole. Your arrival has left us imprisoned and torn apart." Said Rax angrily. "As soon as your attack started, they took her away to the core of the Balmera. For all we know, she could be gone for good."
Meanwhile back at the Castle of Lions, Allura notices the odd movement of the Galra troops heading to the center of the tunnels.
"Paladins, are you there, the Galra troops are moving down the tunnels." Said Allura informing the Paladins. "It looks like they're going down toward the center."
"They must be headed to the core of the Balmera. That's where they're holding Shay." Said Hunk as he rushes off to the Balmera's core.
"They're drawing us into an ambush, but we don't have a choice if we want to save Shay. We have to follow." Said Shiro who's still in his speeder and start instructing to his team. "Lance, Keith, get to the core. I think we're going to need everyone together to get through this firefight."
"Copy that. We're on our way." Said Lana as the bay doors finish shutting.
As they leave to meet the other Paladins, Keith destroy the computer console of the hangar with his sword Bayard and and Lana damage the lock on the control room's door with her bayard so no one can allow the fighter jets to launch, and leave to the core of the Balmera.
Meanwhile deep in the tunnels, Pidge is on her way to the Balmera's core in her speeder but reaches a tunnel too small for the speeder to access.
"Looks like you're in an area where the tunnels are too narrow for your speeder." Said Allura speaking to Pidge over their communication channel.
"Yeah. Proceeding on foot." Said Pidge exiting her speeder.
So as Pidge enters the narrow tunnel and began walking, she starts to see some shadows approaching her way.
"There's someone here." Said Pidge communicating with Allura.
"Looking into it." Said Allura through the coms.
Realizing that the shadows are coming closer, Pidge summons her Bayard and rushes to attack the sharks figures.
"Pidge, no! Those are Balmerans!" Shouted Allura warning Pidge.
Pidge stops when she sees Balmeran children. Pidge sight in relief as she greets the children, suddenly the Balmera begins to cry in pain and rumble, causing the tunnel ceiling to collapse, so the Balmeran children run in fear, however one child trips and is nearly crushed by falling rock, but Pidge saves them.
"Don't worry." Said Pidge and then speaks to the other Paladins through the communication channel. "Hey, team, be careful. The Balmera is very unstable."
Pidge's warning to the team came just in time, as Lana and Keith have run into a squadron of Galra Sentries bombarding them with laser fire and harming the Balmera further as it's crying in pain.
"Their shooting is destroying the Balmera. We gotta do something!" Said Keith looking at Lana.
"Well, we can't shoot back! It'll just make it worse and hurt the Balmera even more." Said Lana avoiding the blasts.
As the Balmera groans in pain from the laser blasts, the Blue Paladin looks around and devises a plan, and tries motioning it to Keith instead of speaking.
Keith does not understand at all, but takes in their surroundings and understands how they can win without doing more harm. Keith climbs a nearby ladder to sneak above the Sentries as Lana dances in front of them to draw their attention.
They take the bait, and starts firing lasers at him as Lana defends herself with her shield. With the Sentries distracted, Keith easily overtakes them using his Bayard katar. Lana gives her fellow Paladin a thumbs-up for teamwork well done, and Keith blush at Lana and smile back at her.
Meanwhile Hunk rushed to the core of the Balmera and releases a battle cry as he enters, prepared to fight for his life to save Shay. However, he didn't anyone but the Balmeran girl is inside hanging from the ceiling.
"Shay! You're alive!" Said Hunk happy that Shay is alright.
However Shay seem to panicked when she saw him and shakes from her restraint as she she tried to say something, but couldn't say anything because of the muzzle on her mouth. Then Hunk shoots Shay's restraint to free her, and catches Shay as she falls, and starts removing her muzzle. Just then, Shiro and Pidge arrive.
"Where are the Galra?" Asked Shiro looking around. "If this is an ambush, they should be here waiting for us."
Just as Keith and Lana arrive at the core of the Balmera, the doors to the core suddenly all shut, trapping the Paladins and Shay.
"Not an ambush. More like a trap." Said Hunk realizing their situation.
"Whatever it is, keep your guard up." Said Keith keeping his guard up.
"The Galra, they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera." Said Shay telling the Paladins.
"How?" Asked Pidge looking at Shay.
"I know not. But they set this trap just for you. I was the bait." Said Shay looking down a bit guilty.
"Who could have possibly known that we were heading here to save Shay?" Asked Shiro in confusion
"Rolo! Those liars must have told Zarkon." Said Hunk believing it was Rolo and his crew.
"We have to figure out how to get out of here." Said Shiro trying to come up with a plan.
"Wait a second, maybe Allura and Coran can help us. Allura, can you please come get us?" Said Lana activating his com link.
"How do you expect her to do that?" Asked Keith looking at Lana.
"There castle has many systems and teleport's, maybe they can use one of them to get us out of here." Said Lance trying to communicate with Allura. "Allura, can you help us?"
"We're quite occupied at the moment." Said Allura as she and Coran are trapped under heavy fire by massive squadrons of Galra fighter jets and unable to retaliate with their weakened ship. "We're completely surrounded by Galra ships and we're taking heavy fire!"
"Princess, our particle barrier won't last much longer!" Said Coran checking that the particle barrier will soon collapse and leave them defenseless
"Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can now!" Said Allura in a panic tone.
"What are we going to do now, Allura and Coran are out there with the Galra fleet, we are stuck in the core of the Balmera, and our lions are at the entrance of the mine shafts!" Said Lana getting worried. "How are we going to get out of here?"
"Get it together, guys. Allura, we'll get there as soon as we can." Said Shiro communicating with Allura.
"Perhaps my people can help us get out." Said Shay placing her hand on the Balmera's core. "This is how we communicate. The Balmera senses our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnels."
"Are you sure someone will be able to hear your. . . Hand from all the way down here?" Asked Keith and Lana elbowed him.
"Keith, please don't be rude, we are going to different planets with different aliens that have their own customs." Said Lana and Keith realize that she's right.
"The Balmera will deliver the message." Said Shay focusing and the area around her hand glows.
The Balmera groans as it sends the message to Rax and their family, as they were walking down the tunnels of the mines. Upon hearing the Balmera's groan, Rax places his hand on the ground and it glows.
"It's a message from Shay." Said Rax in shock.
"She's alive!" Said Shay's father relief his daughter is alive.
"The Paladins of Voltron went to the core of the Balmera to save Shay. . . And now they are all trapped." Said Rax looking at his family.
"Then we are all doomed." Said Shay's Father as he and the others are sadden.
"This is all my fault. I conspired against them, and because of my actions, Shay was imprisoned." Said Rax feeling guilty and looks up with confident. "The big yellow one was right. If we ever hope to be free, we must take action."
"But how can we rise up against our Galra overlords?" Asked Shay's Father in shock.
"What choice do we have? They have stolen all of the Crystals from our Balmera. Our lives are worthless to them now." Said Rax with confidence.
"But Balmerans have never fought." Said Shay's Father looking at Rax.
"You taught me that without family, we have nothing. The Galra have taken Shay. How can we do nothing while the Paladins sacrifice everything to save us? We must do our part!" Said Rax in confidence.
Meanwhile at Emperor Zarkon's Command Ship in the Galra Empire, Commander Prorok kneels before Zarkon in his throne room.
"Lord Zarkon, I have news to report. News that will likely please you, my Emperor." Said Commander Prorok kneeling to Zarkon.
"Proceed." Said Zarkon giving Prorok permission to speak.
"I have the Voltron Paladins trapped on a Balmera in the Javeeno star system. I've ordered a fleet to capture the Lions and destroy the Altean Castle." Said Prorok hoping Zarkon would be delight, however Zarkon looked angry.
"You fool!" Said Zarkon glaring at Prorok. "You dare make plans without informing me?"
"Forgive me, Emperor. . . But I saw an opportunity and I took it for the glory of the Galra Empire." Said Prorok trying to paint his actions.
"I suspect that you are seeking your own glory, Prorok. But you do not realize Voltron's power." Said Zarkon as he's not swayed.
Meanwhile back at the Balmera, the Castle of Lions continues to sustain heavy fire from the fleet of fighter jets, saved only by the dwindling power of the Castleship's particle barrier, a few of the fighters split off from the group.
"They're heading down into the tunnels! They're going to steal the Lions!" Said Coran tracking their movements.
"Paladins, the Lions are in danger! You must get back to them immediately!" Said Allura warning the Paladins.
"Princess, something's locked onto us." Said Coran as the castle's alarm suddenly blare.
Allura frozen in fear at the sight of the massive Galra warship that appears out of the abyss of space, dwarfing her Castle with its size.
"Paladins, do you copy?" Shouted Allura through the coms. "There's a battle cruiser locked onto us. If it fires with its ion cannon, I don't know if we can survive."
"We're trying, Allura. Shay's pressing her hand against the wall, which apparently sends vibrations to the other Balmera's, who can hear her message and vibrate back," Said Lance talking to Allura through the coms. "I guess the answer to your question is, 'Yes, we copy.'"
"Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?" Asked Shiro looking at Shay.
Shay focuses harder. Unbeknownst to them, Shay's family stands outside a doorway to the core and uses their hands to instruct the Balmera into crushing the doorway open, as Rax and his family enter the core of the Balmera.
"Rax!" Said Shay happily to see her family.
"We must make haste." Said Rax warning the Paladins. "We know a shortcut through the tunnels."
"Allura, stand by. We're on our way up." Said Shiro as he and the Paladins all leave the core of the Balmera.
Meanwhile at the entrance of the mine shaft, Galra fighter jets are using tracer beams to raise the Lions from the mining shafts of the Balmera.
"Paladins, hurry! They're taking off with the Lions!" Said Allura speaking over the communication channel.
Shiro arrives just in time in his speeder to witness the Black Lion being taken. All is not lost, as the Black Paladin launches his speeder at the Lion and its force field opens a small hole for him to slip through underneath, allowing his speeder to re-enter the Black Lion and Shiro to take control, and frees the lion from the Galra Empire's grasp.
"Black, are you okay?" Asked Shiro to his lion.
'I'm alright, I'm glad you arrived just in time.' Said Black flying out of the mine shaft.
"Guys, did everyone make it to the Lions in time?" Asked Shiro to his team and saw that none of them have failed to regain their Lions.
"Yeah." Said the Paladins to Shiro.
'I'm glad that you have arrived just in time, my Paladin.' Said Blue happy that Lana arrived in time.
'Yeah, any more longer, and we would've been taken to Zarkon's command center.' Said Yellow shuddering a bit.
'Now I say it's pay back time.' Said Red growling at the Galra Fighters.
"Let's go!" Said Shiro instructing his team.
So the Paladins take flight towards the massive fleet of Galra fighter jets and engage in fierce battle as they all use the lions mouth cannons. Shiro activated the Black Lion's jaw blade, slicing a few Galra Fighters, causing them to be destroy.
Then Keith activates the Red Lion's heat ray while Lana activates the Blue Lion's freeze ray, and firing them to the Galra Fighter, causing them to explode like fireworks. Hunk use the sturdy body of the Yellow Lion to physically smash his way through the fighter jets but his slow pace leaves him vulnerable to attack from above.
"Hunk, watch out!" Said Pidge shielding the Yellow Lion from laser fire with the Green Lion's back shield.
"Got you covered!" Said Shiro using the Black Lion's jaw blade to destroy the fighter jets.
"Phew! Thanks, guys!" Said Hunk grateful Pidge and Shiro helped him.
'Yellow, are you alright?' Asked Green to the Yellow Lion.
'Yeah, thank you, I didn't see those Galra Fighters.' Said Yellow grateful at Black and Green.
'We always protect each other.' Said Black smiling at Yellow.
Meanwhile up above where the Castle of Lions is, the Galra warship began to charging its ion cannon and prepares to fire.
"It's charging its ion cannon!" Said Coran informing Allura.
"Divert all shields to the bow." Said Allura instructing Coran.
So the Castle of Lions focuses its particle barrier to the bow of the ship to meet the destructive blast, however it was struggling to survive the blast form the ion cannon.
"Paladins, I need you immediately!" Shouted Allura in panic. "Five more ticks and we're finished!"
"Okay, team, let's form Voltron!" Said Shiro and Black in unison.
"Yeah!" Shouted the Paladins and Lions.
The Paladins form Voltron immediately and they slam into the hull of the Galra warship to divert its cannon from the Castle of Lions, giving Allura and Coran an open fire.
"Right now is our chance, Princess!" Said Coran informing Allura.
"Full power on the blasters! Locked onto target. Fire!" Said Allura instructing Coran.
The Castle of Lions blasts the Galra fleet with its own cannon, a bright white light that blazes across the sky of the Balmera. With the warship tilted and its hull exposed, the blaster of the Castleship runs it through and decimates the Galra warship in single strike, and all surrounding fighter jets are caught in the resulting explosion that covers the skies.
"Yeah!" Shouted Keith and Hunk cheering for their victory.
'We did it!' Said Yellow cheering in excitement.
'We show them who we are.' Said Red smirking at their accomplishment.
"Nice shot, Princess!" Said Pidge cheering for Allura.
'That was certainly amazing!' Said Green happy how Allura shot the Galra Warship.
"Yeah, now the Balmera is safe." Said Lana happily.
'I wonder how Balmerans show their gratitude.' Said Blue happily as well.
Meanwhile back at Zarkon's Command Ship at the Galra Empire, Commander Prorok still kneels before Zarkon in the throne room as a Galra soldier speaks over the intercomm.
"The Galra fleet and all Sentries on the Balmera have been defeated!" Said the Galra Soldier and Zarkon's eyes narrow.
"No! How could this be?" Said Prorok in a a panic tone and look at Zarkon. "Lord Zarkon, I will do all that I can to recapture Voltron for the Galra!"
"Silence, Prorok. I have plans that you cannot comprehend." Said Zarkon narrowing his eyes at Prorok.
Meanwhile on the Balmera, the Paladins land Voltron carefully on the creature's surface as the Castle of Lions slowly descends above them.
"Mission accomplished." Said Keith smiling at their accomplishments.
"And just in the tick of time. The Castle's defenses are battered and will need to fully recharge." Said Allura and the castles alarms start blaring.
"There's an unknown object incoming! It's about to crash into the Balmera!" Said Coran informing the
Suddenly a transport ship enter the atmosphere, and the dying planet helplessly suffer the blow from the spacecraft holding another of Haggar's vile Robeasts.
"Uh, what is that?" Asked Lana as the dust clear and showing the spacecraft.
"Trouble." Said Shiro as the Paladins stand before the new surprise in front of them.