After several more hours of traveling, the Balmera was finally in sight. Other than Shirley, the other Paladins took a moment to take in the view of the planet. A planet that they were told wasn't a planet at all but a giant petrified animal that made itself a home for other creatures. Creatures that they were here to save from a lifetime of slavery and imprisonment.
"We'll be arriving at the Balmera soon," Allura announced, "Liberating these Balmerans from Zarkon's grasp will not be easy."
"So, what's the plan? We go in there and just—Pow, pow, pow!" Rivalz said as he imitated shooting noises with his hands in gun form, "And free the prisoners?"
"What was that noise?" Kallen asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Laser guns!" Rivals smirked back.
"No, Rivalz, I think you mean—" Milly made sounds that sounded like a giant cannon, even made hand motions to demonstrate it locking into place, "—Pow!"
"No offense, Milly, but that sounded like fireworks to me," Rivalz argued.
"Technically, they're more like—ba-choo, ba-choo, ba-choo!" Rai said, shooting with his own finger gun.
"Okay, enough with the bad sound effects!" Lelouch chastised with a frown.
"Yeah… besides, it's more like—blam, blam, blam!" Suzaku said, crouching down as if he were holding a sniper rifle and targeting his foe.
"Suzaku…" Lelouch groaned as the other Paladins protested in agreement that that was not what a gun sounded like.
"Paladins, focus," Allura said with a sigh.
"Besides," C.C. spoke up, "you might want to rethink that strategy. It'd be foolish to start shooting at the Galra once we enter."
"C.C.'s right," Shirley agreed as a picture of the Balmera's heat signature appeared on the screen. "This Balmera thing, it's like, alive. And from what we've seen, it doesn't look very good."
"Yes," Coran agreed as the screen showed the brighter colors slowly giving way to darker, colder ones, "it's an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this grand beast. Stealing its crystals," another screen of the Balmera's current surface appeared next to it, "its very life force, without ever performing the energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it." Another image showed two figures (Alteans, the Paladins assumed), with hands outstretched and surrounded by a circle and arrows directed towards a large crystal between them.
"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." Shirley said with a frown.
"C.C. and Shirley are right. Going in guns blazing is the last thing we want to do," the Black Paladin said. "Not only will it alert the enemy of our arrival sooner, but it would also hurt the Balmera. We need to try and draw as many troops as we can up to the surface where we can fight them in the open air."
"Wait, I know!" Rivalz exclaimed, "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, and Voltron saves the day!"
"Okay, but will we know how many are left in the tunnels?" Kallen asked.
"We can track the Galra and the Balmerans using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology," Allura said. She pulled up a hologram of a small device that looked like a miniature version of the Castleship.
"Oh, B.L.I.P. Tech!" Rai said, leaning in closer. At Allura's confused stare Rai awkwardly looked at the princess and clarified, "...It's an acronym."
"One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the shafts on each side," Allura continued as the device flew further in front of her. The screen then spread out to show a map of intricate tunnels and vein systems that it picked up, "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," Rai volunteered immediately, "I just modified Zerith with the invisible maze's cloaking ability. I should be able to fly around unnoticed. Plus, I'll have Rover with me as well to help out," he smirked at the robot helper that beeped excitedly.
"Zerith?" Shirley asked, confused.
"My Lion," Rai said with a smile.
"Oh! That's pretty!" Shirley commented.
"Thanks!"
"Okay, first you know how to reprogram Galra tech, now you can make your Lion invisible? Are you sure you're not an alien, Rai?" Milly asked with a teasing grin.
Rai shrugged, "I don't know. It's like I said, these things are easy for me… maybe it's something to do with my Geass?"
Lelouch glanced at C.C., who simply shrugged. She wasn't the one who gave Rai his Geass, so she didn't know.
"That's their main power generator," Coran said, pulling up an image of the surface again, this time with a large structure in the center. "If you take that down, it will severely weaken their defenses."
"The three of us will stay in cloud cover and give tactical support," Allura said, pulling up a model of the castle, some areas being pointed out next to it with Altean writing. "With the castle's defenses weakened from Sendak's crystal, we won't be of much help to you."
"Very well, I'll take out the power generator," Lelouch said, "Rai, get those sensors to the shafts. The rest of you will take out these big mining rigs around the area. Any objections?"
The rest of the Paladins shook their heads and agreed to the strategy.
"Yeah!" Milly jumped in the air, "Okay, let's do this! Let's go kick some alien butt!"
The Balmera's gravity pulled the Castleship into its atmosphere as the Paladins made their way to their respective Lions.
"You think the Balmerans will have a parade for us after we've freed everybody?" Rivalz asked as he settled in the Blue Lion. He had yet to come up with a name for her but promised himself he would soon. He had already thrown a few names her way, but all had been shot down. Rivalz didn't mind much; it was her name, after all.
Kallen's face showed up on his dashboard, Aka's cockpit in the background, "It's not about the glory, Rivalz. It's about freeing prisoners from Zarkon."
"No, I know. I know. But still. When they—" Rivalz didn't finish his sentence as he and the Blue Lion launched off into the atmosphere with the rest of the Lions. As they descended, the power generator's pillars started firing rapidly at the Lions. One even launched an attack that looked like a flying windmill blade they had to maneuver around to avoid.
"This is it. Get your heads in the game," Lelouch ordered. "Remember, the Balmera is a living creature. Make sure you pinpoint only the Galra installations and not its surface."
Rai, Rover, and Zerith promptly broke off from the rest of the group and started flying low, closer to the ground.
"Initiating cloak," the Green Paladin said as Zerith disappeared from view. The other Lions could still pinpoint where they were, but the Galra certainly wouldn't be able to. At each mining shaft he flew over, he dropped a B.L.I.P. in, and it activated at the bottom.
As the installations continued to fire at them, Suzaku expertly maneuvered the Purple Lion up and around every strike like a pro. He shot back with blasts of his own from his Lion's tail. He noticed Rivalz and Milly quickly follow his example as they took up his flanks.
As he flew, Suzaku noticed how much easier it felt to fly his Lion than the Lancelot. It was like he and the Lion were one being instead of just pilot and machine. It was so much more than that. He could feel it.
I need to remember to find a name for you too, Suzaku added mentally as they shot down another tower.
On the other hand, Shirley had gone in closer to the ground, and her Lion was simply smashing into each tower, causing them to collapse.
Lelouch grit his teeth as he examined the base. He knew shooting at full power was out of the question, but his Lion, despite being the largest, was not quite bulky enough to smash through things either, "How do I take this thing down?"
He blinked as he felt the Black Lion brush against his mind as a screen appeared before him. "What's that?" he asked as the Lion elaborated. It was a picture of the Lion's head and a pair of blades that seemed to extend from its jaw.
"Jaw blade?" he questioned before smirking almost evilly, pushing the thrusters down. "Okay! Let's do this!"
The Black Lion growled as the blade formed around her jaw. With the weapon in place, she and Lelouch easily sliced through the generator's foundation like a hot knife through butter. It wasn't long until nearly the entire generator was destroyed.
"All sensors delivered," Rai confirmed just as he dropped the last one.
From inside the Castle of Lions, a screen appeared showing all of the underground tunnels of the Balmera. They'd now easily be able to track any movements and guide the Paladins through without a hitch.
The biggest cannon was still giving the Paladins trouble. Team Voltron couldn't start the rescue until it was dismantled. After a couple more blasts, Kallen and Aka managed to get in close as the Red Lion opened its maw and shot a pillar of pure fire that melted right through the cannon's support beam.
"Whoa! Did you guys just see that?!" Kallen exclaimed with a giant grin, "I got fire powers!"
"Hey! I want that!" Rivalz whined.
"That is so awesome, Kallen!" Milly cried, a matching grin on her face.
The praises were short-lived, though, as the cannon suddenly shuddered and wobbled, then it began to tip down towards the surface. The very thing that they didn't want to happen!
"Oh no!" Rivalz shouted.
Before it could connect, however, Shirley managed to get under it in the Orange Lion and tried to push it back up. "We can't let this thing hurt the Balmera!"
"I'm coming!" Suzaku shouted as he flew overhead. His Lion opened its mouth too, but instead of anything firing out of it, it started sucking wind and debris into it. Almost like...
"A black hole!" Suzaku said as the suction began to slow the descent gradually.
"Cool, Suzaku!" Milly exclaimed.
It wasn't enough, though; the structure was still falling too fast.
"We need to try something else!" Suzaku yelled, strain in his voice.
"I think my Lion knows what to do!" Rivalz said as he and the Blue Lion flew in closer. It opened its jaws too, and while everyone expected the tower to go up in flames, a blast of crisp white ice hit it instead, freezing it entirely in place and halting the crash.
"Ha-aw, snap! These rays are super cool, just like me!" Rivalz cheered.
"Well done, everyone!" Lelouch said as the Lions all perched on top of the frozen cannon. However, as they looked across the Balmera's surface, they were perplexed to see no ships coming up to attack them.
"Something's wrong," Suzaku said, "Where are all the troops? They're not coming to the surface."
"He's right," Shirley said, as her face popped up on everyone's dashboards, "Last time I was here, I remember seeing a whole army of Galra down in the mines."
"We've located a hangar full of Galra fighters just below the surface," Allura informed them from the castle, "Someone has to take those out before they can launch."
Lelouch grit his teeth. They were being lured down. It was obviously a trap. But… "We don't have a choice," he muttered. "All right, we'll split into three teams. Suzaku, Kallen, and Rivalz will hit the hangar. Shirley, you, Rai, and Rover head to the prison to rescue Shay and the other Balmerans. Milly and I will track down the Galra soldiers. Any objections?"
"Nope!"
"Ten-four!"
"Nada!"
"You got it!"
"Leave it to us!"
"Let's do this!" Came the shouts as the Lions bounded off the tower and towards the tunnels.
Back at the Galran headquarters, Commander Prorok was waiting. It had been several varga since he'd contacted those bounty hunters that claimed to have the Blue Lion. They never arrived at their meeting point. This could only mean one of two things. They had either been caught by the other Paladins or decided to keep the Blue Lion for themselves.
Whatever the case, it wasn't a complete lost cause. Thanks to their hailing, Prorok now knew where the Paladins were going. It was now merely a matter of when to strike them.
"Commander Prorok," Thace said as he approached his superior, "we have word from the troops on Balmera X-95 Vox. The informants were right. Voltron is there."
"Excellent," Prorok smiled smugly, "Everything is going according to plan."
"How do you wish to proceed?" his subordinate asked, "Should we inform Emperor Zarkon?"
"Contact Subcommander Ylvik," Prorok ordered, turning to meet Thace's eye, "His fleet is awaiting my command. Tell him it's time to attack. I will update the Emperor."
The Black Lion landed with a bang at the bottom of the shaft. Fortunately, there had been no Galra fighters occupying it, so Lelouch had managed to land without too much trouble. Unfortunately, the cave tunnels were too small for the Lion to navigate due to their enormous size. But there was no need to worry as there was a way around this hiccup.
Lelouch's pilot chair slowly pulled back with him still seated. It hit the back wall of the cockpit and then lowered into the Lion's chest. Inside was a speeder, one that all the Lions had. As Lelouch's seat clicked into it, the Black Lion's chest opened and set him free. As the speeder departed, the Lion's particle barrier rose up, effectively securing it until Lelouch could return.
Inside another tunnel, Rivalz, Suzaku, and Kallen slowly crept up in their speeders to a ledge that showed the hangar full of Galra fighters that Allura had mentioned earlier. They were pretty surprised to see how only a few sentries were guarding them.
"The entire hangar's only being guarded by a few sentries?" Rivalz said, voicing everyone's question.
"We can take them! Let's go!" Kallen said as she pulled out her Bayard and was about to storm in before Suzaku grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Whoa, whoa! Kallen!" Suzaku hissed, "Do you not remember all that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?"
Kallen stopped struggling against Suzaku's grip. "Oh. Right," she said, feeling embarrassed.
"Yeah, I think going and blowing things up like psychos is the last thing we want to do right now," Rivalz agreed.
"Well, do either of you have a better idea?" Kallen snapped impatiently.
"I do, actually," Rivalz said as he pointed to the other end of the gorge, "We sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors. That'll trap the ships in."
"That…!" Kallen stopped as she processed Rivalz's words, "...Actually... is a better idea."
Suzaku smiled, agreeing.
"Come on!" Suzaku said as he started sneaking across one of the poles connecting the two sides together. Kallen and Rivalz were right behind him. The poles were narrow and didn't provide much cover if someone looked up, so they had to move slowly and pray that none of the sentries spotted them doing so.
In another tunnel, Shirley and Rai, with Rover hovering in Rai's speeder with him, were struggling to locate Shay and her family. Despite the Orange Paladin's previous visit, it didn't mean she was suddenly a tunnel expert.
"Allura, Coran, w-what's our location?" Shirley asked, "All these tunnels look the same. I can't remember where the prison is."
"You're on the right path," Coran assured them as he looked at their map in the castle. "Turn right at the next tunnel. Once you get there, you'll have to disable the energy doors."
"Be careful, though," C.C. added, "it's heavily guarded from what we can see."
"No, no, over here more!" Kallen whispered as Suzaku was about to cut through the control room's ceiling.
"Calm down, Kallen. I know what I'm doing," the Purple Paladin said in exasperation as he plunged his katana through and cut a circular hole in the top. Below them, a single sentry was operating the controls. He didn't have time to react when he looked up to see what the noise was as the ceiling hole came crashing down with Suzaku on top of it, crushing it below. Kallen and Rivalz joined him a moment later.
"All right, you two keep an eye out for guards," Rivalz said as he approached the control panel, "I'll see if I can find a way to shut the hangar doors."
Kallen and Suzaku moved to the side to look out the bay windows. So far, it seemed their presence had gone unnoticed. The few sentries down below made no move or gesture to signify that they knew the Paladins were there.
Rivalz's eyes lingered over different parts of the panel. Several screens displayed the status of multiple status and statistics of the base functions, a box with a Galran symbol on it, and a few other things. There were some buttons near the bottom of the screen that Rivalz pushed in a couple of patterns, but nothing happened or worked.
"Ah!" he finally groaned in defeat, "I don't know what I'm doing here. It's all Galra gibberish!"
"Let me see," Suzaku said as he and Kallen came closer to try and help.
Like the Blue Paladin, they didn't understand most of the text, but the box near the upper center caught Suzaku's eye.
"Hmm…" he hummed. He turned to the sentry that was now destroyed. He removed his Bayard again and sliced off the downed sentry's arm.
"What are you doing?" Kallen asked, confused.
"Let me try something," he said as he placed the sentry hand over the symbol and box. It glowed red when he did it, and a buzzing sound filled the room as the hanger doors above slowly creaked shut.
"Nice thinking, Suzaku!" Rivalz cheered as Kallen nodded in agreement.
One task down. Two to go.
Following Coran's directions, Shirley and Rai turned right at the next tunnel intersection. They were able to spot the prison doors about halfway down. As they approached, sentries started shooting at the two speeders, forcing them to stop. The Paladins and drone jumped off their rides and ducked behind the speeders for cover.
Shirley whipped out her bow and fired two consecutive shots at the robots, completely destroying them.
Despite the small victory, an uneasy feeling bubbled up in the Orange Paladin's chest.
"Shirley, that was way too easy," Rai said, voicing her exact thoughts, "I don't have a good feeling about this."
"Neither do I, Rai, but Shay's still in there!" Shirley argued.
Rai sighed as the three of them approached the energy doors.
"Do your thing Rover," Rai said as the drone beeped happily and scanned the control board. The energy barrier went down immediately. No bombs went off, and no army was waiting for them on the other side. Rai was right. This was too easy.
They took the chance, though, and sprinted down the tunnel. They thought they heard a troop of sentries approaching the side, but the steps quickly faded. After turning another corner, Shirley finally spotted it. It was a cell door with some familiar faces on the other side. Rai had Rover scan the console here as well, and the doors opened to reveal Shay's mother, father, grandmother, and her brother Rax… but Shay wasn't there.
The Balmerans looked up as the door opened, surprised delight on their faces.
"Shirley! You have returned!" Shay's father exclaimed as he, his wife, and his mother stood up to greet her.
"I promised I would be back," Shirley smiled as she grasped his hand. She turned around, hand outstretched, "This is Rai. He's one of my friends I told you about."
"Nice to meet you," he greeted with a smile. Rover also clicked a greeting, "Oh, and this is Rover. Don't worry, he's with us too."
Shirley looked around the cell but then realized something.
"Where's Shay?" she asked urgently.
"Our life may not have been perfect, but our family was whole," Rax retorted and glared at the two Paladins. "Your arrival has left us imprisoned and torn apart. 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."
Shirley gasped at this information as Rai grimaced, "This isn't good," he muttered.
"Paladins, are you there?" Allura asked urgently as she, Coran, and C.C, saw the Galra forces converging at a point on the screen. "The Galra troops are moving down the tunnels. It looks like they're going down toward the center."
"They must be headed to the core of the Balmera," Shirley said, "That's where they're holding Shay."
Lelouch grit his teeth in frustration as he rode on his speeder. "They're drawing us into an ambush," he said objectively, "but we don't have a choice if we want to save Shay. We have to follow. Everyone, start heading to the core. We'll need to be together to get through this firefight."
"Copy that. We're on our way!" Kallen's voice sounded as she and her team left the control room now that the launch doors were sealed.
Behind her, Suzaku quickly slashed through the control board to prevent anyone from trying to open the doors again. As the trio ran out and the doors closed, Rivalz fired his Bayard at the control pad, effectively locking it behind them.
Milly gasped, and her speeder screeched to a halt as it almost crashed into what she thought was a dead-end of the tunnel. After she stopped and popped out of it, she saw that there wasn't a dead-end but that the tunnel was narrow enough that she couldn't bring her speeder through.
"Looks like you're in an area where the tunnels are too narrow for your speeder," Allura informed her.
"Yeah, I see that," Milly said, stepping through the small gap. "Proceeding on foot."
Milly had been walking for a few minutes when she spotted lights moving ahead. She jumped to the side, hiding from view, "There's someone here," she whispered urgently.
"Looking into it," Allura replied.
As the shadows crept closer and closer, Milly bit her lip before she jumped out and ran, raising her kusarigama Bayard to attack.
"Milly, no! Those are Balmerans!" Allura cried out just in time. Milly stopped short and lowered her weapon. Three young Balmeran children were standing in front of her. One of them was carrying a small lamp.
Milly sighed in relief that they weren't sentries. She looked up with a smile and waved to the children.
Suddenly, the ground underneath her began to quake, and a loud, high-pitched groan echoed through the tunnel. Small rocks, dust, and debris began to fall around them.
The three children gasped and turned to run in the other direction, but one of them tripped and fell. Above them, a large stone slab shook loose and began to fall. Acting fast, Milly sprinted to the trio, using her jetpack for more momentum, and snatched the fallen child just as the slab crashed to the ground behind them. She set the Balmeran down next to her friends, who promptly hugged her close to them. Milly turned to view the damage behind her. She was completely blocked off from her speeder.
"Don't worry," she assured the children, "everything's going to be okay."
"Everyone, be careful. The Balmera is very unstable." Milly's voice buzzed through the commlinks.
Kallen, Suzaku, and Rivalz didn't have time to start worrying about that, as when they turned a corner, they were ambushed by a small platoon of sentries guarding a door. Rivalz and Kallen tumbled to the left, and Suzaku took shelter to the right. As the laser shots zoomed past them, the ground vibrated again, and the pained echoes of the Balmera could be heard from all over the tunnels.
"Their shooting is destroying the Balmera. We gotta do something!" Kallen shouted over the noise.
"Well, we can't shoot back!" Rivalz said, "That'll just make it worse!"
They had to think of a plan. Fast. The ground started shaking again as stone and rock tumbled down around them from the Balmera's pained screams.
Suzaku looked around at the sentries and his teammates. Then he spotted a ladder behind Kallen. If the two of them climbed up to the upper level, they would have the advantage of higher ground. With Rivalz distracting them below, it would be easy!
"Kallen!" he whispered, urgently pointing behind her.
The Red Paladin shot him a confused stare before glancing behind him and spotting the ladder. Making an 'o' with her mouth, she smiled and gave a thumbs-up, realizing what the Purple Paladin had in mind.
As Suzaku scrambled to the other side with her, Rivalz leaped out and waved his hands in the air right in front of the platoon, "Na-na na-na boo-boo!"
As the sentries started firing at him again, he crouched down to the ground with his shield activated, hoping to block most shots from hitting the Balmera wall behind him. Some still made it to the other side, though. He gritted his teeth and endured it as Kallen and Suzaku ran across the upper level. Once they were on top, they leaped down and quickly finished them off with their weapons, Kallen blowing the last one up with her gauntlet.
"I love this thing!" she whispered with a smirk. She and Suzaku glanced back to check on Rivalz, who flashed them a smile and a thumbs up.
Rai and Shirley ran until they came across a closed door. According to Allura's directions, the core was on the other side. They would find Shay there.
"Okay, this should be it," Rai muttered as he directed Rover to unlock it. "Be ready. We don't know what's on the other side."
Shirley nodded and gulped, readying her bow to shoot. Despite being scared, she put on her bravest face as Rover beeped that he was finished.
Rai raised his hand with three fingers. Once his finger hit one, the two rushed in as the door opened, weapons drawn and prepared to fight. They came to an abrupt stop, though, when no enemies came to greet them. Only one occupant was in the room, dangling in chains from the ceiling.
"Shay!" Shirley shouted in relief, "You're alive!"
The Balmera was hanging from the ceiling by her wrists and had a muzzle wrapped around her mouth. Upon spotting Shirley and Rai, she started struggling against her restraints, shaking her head furiously to try and dislodge the muzzle.
Aiming as carefully as she could, Shirley fired an arrow at the chains holding her up. As the Balmeran fell, Rai rushed to catch her from underneath. With a blast from his jetpack, Rai caught Shay bridal style and slowly lowered them to the ground. Once there, Shirley started trying to undo the muzzle, but it was clasped super tight.
As the Orange Paladin assisted her friend, Rai looked around in disbelief. They were the only ones there. There were no guards, sentries, or even Rover's fellow droids. Nothing.
Something's wrong, he thought, eyes scanning around them.
"Where are the Galra?" Lelouch demanded as he ran through another entrance, the other Paladins following from another. "If this is an ambush, they should be here waiting for us."
They got their answer as the doors they had moments ago run through slammed shut and locked behind them.
"Not an ambush," Suzaku said, "more like a trap!"
"Whatever it is, keep your guard up!" Kallen shouted.
"The Galra, they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera," Shay said once Shirley finally removed the muzzle. The other Paladins joined her at the bottom.
"What? How?!" Rivalz asked.
"I know not," Shay answered with remorse, bowing her head, "But they set this trap just for you. I was the bait."
"Who could have possibly known that we were heading here to save Shay?" Rai asked incredulously.
Lelouch grit his teeth, already knowing who, but Milly beat him to the punch, "Rolo! Those liars must have told Zarkon!"
"It likely happened when they had the Blue Lion to negotiate its trade," Lelouch said with a frown, "and we were foolish not to question them of such an action!" Lelouch mentally kicked himself for overlooking something so obvious.
"We need to get out here, fast!" Shirley said, looking around at the closed doors.
"Rai, can Rover hack the doors and get us out?" Suzaku asked the Green Paladin.
"If he was on the other side, he could. There are no control panels to do that here!" he answered. Rover beeped sadly, tilting downward as if ashamed.
"Wait! We have a giant Castleship hovering in the sky," Rivalz said before contacting said ship, "Allura, can you please come get us?"
"How do you expect her to do that, genius?" Kallen demanded.
"I don't know! Maybe they got teleporters or something. Like from Space Trek." Rivalz suggested.
"We're quite occupied at the moment," Allura informed them urgently and grunted as another shot from a Galra fighter hit the ship's shields. Over a dozen of them surrounded the castle. "We're completely surrounded by Galra ships, and we're taking heavy fire!"
The shots came from every direction, giving the ship no place to maneuver. Alarms started blaring, and the screens in front of the ship's occupants turned red with warnings of malfunction.
"Princess, our particle barrier won't last much longer!" Coran informed her urgently.
"Do you have any other forms of attacking besides the Lions?" C.C. asked, holding onto one of the control tables as another blast rocked the ship.
"We do, but I'm not sure how long they'll last," Allura informed the immortal.
"It's better than nothing!" C.C. countered as she made her way to another screen that popped up by the princess. A targeting system appeared in the front, and C.C. grasped the two control sticks in front of her. She pressed down on the handles and started firing back at the fleet. Despite managing to take a few ships down, more continued to pour in.
"Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can!" Allura cried out.
"This is it! We're going to die in here. I can say bye-bye to that parade," Rivalz lamented as he visibly sagged. Everyone shot him unimpressed looks.
"Everyone focus!" Lelouch ordered, "Allura, we'll get there as soon as we can!"
"Perhaps my people can help us get out," Shay suggested. She walked towards the core of the Balmera and placed a hand lightly on top of it. "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?" Kallen asked skeptically.
"The Balmera will deliver the message," Shay reassured them as she closed her eyes in concentration. Her hand started to glow, and the Balmera groaned around them. The Paladins watched, mesmerized. Shay stood still, not moving a muscle from the core.
Elsewhere on the Balmera, Shay's family was making their way back to their home tunnel. Their faces were sad and solemn, believing that a family member was gone forever despite what Shirley said.
The four suddenly stopped as the Balmera groaned. Rax bent down, placing his hand on the ground.
"It's a message from Shay!" he exclaimed, shocked.
"She's alive!" her father rejoiced as his wife and mother smiled at the news.
"The Paladins of Voltron went to the core of the Balmera to save Shay... and now they are all trapped," Rax informed them, eyes narrowing.
"Then we are all doomed," his father mourned, looking down in despair.
"This is all my fault," Rax said, standing up, guilt swelling in his chest, "I conspired against them, and because of my actions, Shay was imprisoned. The orange female was right. If we ever hope to be free, we must take action."
"But how can we rise up against our Galra overlords?" his father asked.
"What choice do we have?" Rax asked, "They have stolen all of the crystals from our Balmera. Our lives are worthless to them now."
"But Balmerans have never fought." his father countered.
"You taught me that without family, we have nothing," Rax argued, a fire of rebellion blazing in his eyes. "The Galra have taken Shay. How can we do nothing while the Paladins sacrifice everything to save us? We must do our part!"
Prorok kneeled before Zarkon, smirking at the knowledge that his plan was working out. The Emperor would no doubt be pleased with him for his efforts. Within the next few varga, Voltron would be within the Galra's grasp at last.
"Lord Zarkon, I have news to report. News that will likely please you, my Emperor."
"Proceed," Zarkon commanded, no emotion on his ancient face.
"I have the Voltron Paladins trapped on a Balmera in the Javeeno Star System," the commander informed him with a proud grin. "I've ordered a fleet to capture the Lions and destroy the Altean castle."
To Prorok's surprise, though, the Emperor was far from pleased with his report and scowled, "You fool! You dare make plans without informing me?"
"Forgive me, Emperor…" Prorok shrank back in fear, "...but I saw an opportunity, and I took it for the glory of the Galra Empire."
"I suspect that you are seeking your own glory, Prorok," Zarkon growled, "But you do not realize Voltron's power." He knew that there were only a few that knew Voltron's full potential. Not even the Altean Princess did, much less the new Paladins…
As the castle continued to be fired upon, a dozen Galra fighters broke off from the formation and began to descend towards the Balmera.
"They're heading down into the tunnels!" Coran gasped, "They're going to steal the Lions!"
"Paladins, the Lions are in danger! You must get back to them immediately!" Allura called out desperately.
On C.C.'s targeting scanner, a small alert popped up, directing them to the cause of it in the distance.
"Something's locked onto us!" she informed them as they spotted a large Galra cruiser with an ion cannon on top.
"Paladins, do you copy?" Allura asked, "There's a battlecruiser locked onto us. If it fires with its ion cannon, I don't know if we can survive."
"We're trying, Allura," Shirley replied anxiously.
"Yeah, Shay's pressing her hand against the wall, which apparently sends vibrations to the other rock people, who vibrate back or something? Hand talking?" Rivalz tried explaining, "I guess the answer to your question is, 'Yes, we copy.'"
"Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?" Suzaku asked urgently.
As Shay began focusing harder, her family appeared behind one of the doors. They pressed their hands against the wall, causing it to glow blue. The wall suddenly constricted, knocking the door off its hinges.
The Paladins and Shay all jumped and turned to where the door had been initially. As the dust settled, Shay's family stood in the doorway to greet them.
"Rax!" Shay exclaimed happily.
"We must make haste!" Rax replied urgently, "We know a shortcut through the tunnels."
"Princess, stand by," Lelouch called out to the castle, "we're on our way up!"
Lelouch and his speeder scrambled back to the Black Lion just in time. Two Galra ships were using tracker beams to try and drag it out.
"Paladins, hurry! They're taking off with the Lions!" Allura said.
Gritting his teeth, Lelouch thrust the speeder forward. A small opening was made in the particle barrier, and the Black Paladin disappeared back inside his Lion. With a roar, the Black Lion broke free of the tractor beams and zoomed out of the Balmera tunnel.
"Paladins report! Did everyone make it to their Lions?" Lelouch asked as he hovered above the mines.
He got his answers as the six other Lions promptly burst from the tunnels and joined him on the surface in formation.
"Come on, Lelouch. Who do you think you're dealing with? A bunch of amateurs-" Rivalz didn't finish his sentence as he and the Blue Lion ran headfirst into what remained of one of the Galra structures, which the other six Lions easily avoided.
"You really want me to answer that, Rivalz?" Lelouch smirked in amusement despite the situation.
"No," the Blue Paladin groaned.
The Lions quickly regrouped as the Galra fleet started firing furiously at them. The Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow Lions fired their own shots while the Orange Lion tore through them with its armor and powerful jaws. The Purple Lion followed suit, sucking in every aircraft it could and tearing the wings off and destroying them. Finally, the mighty Black Lion sliced through several fighters with its jaw blade. It was like a hot knife through butter!
The fleet was getting obliterated every second they continued to fight. Balls of fire rained down from the sky.
As another wave flew at them, Kallen and Rivalz put their Lions' attacks together to wipe them out. Kallen melted half of them as Rivalz froze the rest completely.
Shirley grabbed another fighter in the Orange Lion's maw and proceeded to ram into four more before tossing the stack away as it exploded in a fiery inferno.
From above her, though, she didn't have time to dodge as three more began firing at her.
"Shirley, watch out!" Rai cried as he and Zerith flew to cover her, the shots having little effect against the Green Lion's shield on its back.
"I'm coming!" Lelouch shouted as he and the Black Lion zoomed overhead and sliced through the three assailants. They blew up quickly.
"Phew! Thanks, boys!" Shirley said with a smile.
Milly and Suzaku charged another five Galra fighters from above. They seemed ready to dive-bomb them.
Milly thrust the control of the Yellow Lion forward, intending to take them out with one shot. To her surprise, however, when the Yellow Lion opened its mouth, it didn't shoot a blast of energy, but a tiny ball of light… which moments later expanded to illuminate the battlefield, blinding everyone but the Paladins, whose visors came down automatically to protect their vision.
"Whoa!" Milly exclaimed, "Did you guys just see that?!"
"Nice, Milly!" Suzaku complimented as he sucked the five fighters towards them and chomped down on them at once. They blew up as he tossed them aside.
Despite the Paladins' growing success, the castle still faced a threat from the Galra warship. The ion cannon began to charge up, ready to fire.
"It's charging its ion cannon!" Coran exclaimed in fear.
"Divert all shields to the bow!" Allura ordered.
"That'll leave the rest of the ship completely vulnerable!" Coran argued.
"Leave that to me!" C.C. said, still at the blaster controls.
As the shields converged in front of the ship, it met the blast of the ion cannon head-on. Allura grit her teeth as the blast pressed against the shield. It began to fizzle out, losing power fast.
"Paladins, I need you immediately! Five more ticks, and we're finished!"
"Very well!" Lelouch shouted, "Team, let's form Voltron!"
"Yes/Yeah!" The rest of the team screamed out as the Lions roared and converged.
Within moments, the giant juggernaut appeared before them, emerged from the clouds, and headed straight for the Galra warship. It slammed into the bottom of the ship. As the Paladins screamed, Voltron shoved the ship upwards, diverting the cannon blast away from the Castle of Lions in the knick of time.
"Right, now is our chance, Princess!" Coran proclaimed.
"Full power on the blasters!" Allura ordered as the holographic image lined up with the target, "Lock onto target. Fire!"
At Allura's command, the castle unleashed a giant blue beam of energy straight at the Galra ship. Voltron flew out of the way just as the shot hit the ship, straight through the helm. Within moments the warship exploded in a fiery inferno, taking out whatever remained of its Galra fighters.
"Yes!"
"Woo-hoo!"
"Whoop-whoop!"
"Nice shot, Princess!"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah! The Parade's back on!"
Lelouch simply smirked victoriously from the Black Lion, watching the firework show.
The day was theirs.
"The Galra fleet and all sentries on the Balmera have been defeated!" a communications officer reported to the throne room.
Prorok's face fell at the news. That wasn't possible. He was sure he could obtain Voltron!
"No!" the commander gasped, "How could this be? Lord Zarkon, I will do all that I can to recapture Voltron for the Galra!"
"Silence, Prorok!" Zarkon thundered, causing the commander to flinch away, "I have plans that you can not comprehend."
Voltron touched down lightly on the Balmera's surface, the Castleship preparing to settle just behind them.
"Mission accomplished!" Kallen grinned as she leaned back in Aka's pilot chair. She hadn't felt this pumped since her first official mission with Ohgi's old group before Lelouch/Zero had come into play.
"And just in the tick of time," Allura agreed, "The castle's defenses are battered and will need to fully recharge."
Allura spoke too soon, though, as the castle's proximity alarms blared to life. Something was approaching the Balmera's atmosphere. Fast.
"There's an unknown object incoming!" Coran exclaimed as a massive fireball could be seen from the ship's bridge, "It's about to crash into the Balmera!"
Lelouch silently cursed as the object crashed into the surface. As the dust cleared, a familiar-looking black coffin-like ship could be seen in the distance.
"What the heck?!" Rivalz exclaimed.
"What is that?!" Milly asked.
Additional noises of confusion could be heard from the other Paladins as well.
"...Trouble," Lelouch muttered, teeth grinding in his jaw. The battle wasn't over. It had only just begun.
AN: And cut! Don't you just love those cliffhangers? Anyway, the next chapter is another awesome Ro-beast fight between Voltron and the Galra!
I hope everyone enjoyed the abilities I gave the Purple and Yellow Lions. The Purple Lion's ability is very similar to a black hole, and the Yellow Lion can shoot out small balls of energy that can expand into a light, bright enough to stun/blind foes.
Also, I just wanted to add this. I know Lelouch doesn't seem as intelligent as he is in the anime, but here's something to remember. In the anime, he already knew his opponents very well (since most were half-siblings he grew up with) and had ways of getting on the inside of Britannia easily, thanks to his Geass). Out in the Galra Empire's territory, he doesn't have that advantage as much. So he can only work with the moves and tools he has as they come and go.
As for what we have for Lion names so far:
Black Lion: ?
Red Lion: Aka
Green Lion: Zerith
Blue Lion: ?
Orange Lion: ?
Yellow Lion: ?
Purple Lion: ?
So, I guess I'll see everyone next chapter! R&R!
Edited and revised 08/02/2022
