It was early the next morning when the Paladins prepared themselves to travel to where they were told Princess Malocoti was being held. It was almost on the other side of the planet in a more forested area. The bug people had allowed them to camp in their village for the night so that they could be ready to go in the morning.
As they were about to enter their Lions, though, a thought occurred to Rai.
"Hey guys, you think we should contact Allura and C.C. and tell them what happened to Coran?"
"That sounds like a good idea," Suzaku agreed.
"Yeah, we might be a little late getting back," Kallen nodded.
Lelouch sighed, "I hate to have to worry them, but I guess you're right."
"WHOAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! YES!" Allura laughed with glee as the space mice pushed the hoverchair down the slope of the castle with Allura seated inside. With a whoop, the chair slammed into the wall, causing it to spin rapidly. Like a pinball machine, the chair finally came to a stop within the castle's bridge where C.C. was going over some star charts. The immortal flinched, and her eye twitched in frustration at the princess's grand entrance.
But before C.C. could voice a protest to this, Lelouch's face popped up on the castle's screens.
"Allura?" the princess blinked at the address, before rotating herself to face the screen.
Lelouch got mildly concerned, seeing Allura's unkempt appearance, "Princess, are you and C.C. okay?"
"We're perfectly peachy, Lelouch," C.C. addressed casually.
"Yes, we're fine," Allura agreed before she spotted how much her hair was in disarray in the reflection of one of the consoles. She swiftly smoothed it out, "I'm just a bit winded. How's your training going?"
Allura and C.C. remained silent as the Paladins filled the girls in on what was going on. How Coran was being held captive and that the ransom price to release him was a pearl from a monster that had never been defeated before. That certainly reassured them a lot!
"That's it! We're coming to help!" Allura exclaimed once the explanation was over.
"I'd put more faith in your Paladins if I were you, Princess. After all, we already saved you, so if they have to do it again for another princess, it shouldn't be a problem for them. Especially when you consider one is a prince himself," C.C. said with a shrug, though a tiny smirk was playing at her lips as well.
Upon hearing that comment, Lelouch's eyes widened, and then he flushed red with embarrassment as he slammed his head on Zen's console with a groan. Milly, Suzaku, and Rivalz started laughing out loud, realizing how ironic this all suddenly was. Kallen just facepalmed, while Shirley blushed a little. Rai, however, made an exaggerated gagging sound with an eye roll.
"What?!" Allura exclaimed, looking incredulously at C.C. "You?! Save me?! When I get my hands on you, you are going to have to rescue my foot from your-" Allura was cut off mid-rant when a fit of coughs hit her.
"Princess, you should be resting. You just saved a whole planet on the Balmera. Let us handle this," Suzaku said anxiously.
"...I'm fine. I can-"
"Now, now, young lady," C.C. interrupted, her smirk growing, "you just return to bed and dream of your heroes' return."
"Once I grab you by your Yulschtrix…" Allura growled fist clenched towards the witch.
"You know-"
"C.C., cut it out, please," Lelouch groaned.
C.C. just shrugged again, the smirk never leaving her face.
The bug people cheered as the Paladins took flight in their Lions, preparing to rescue the princess that could lead to the prize they were seeking.
It took about three Earth hours until they finally came across the place that held the best chances of keeping a princess — a large, lone tower, overlooking a vast lush coniferous forest. From the top of the tower, the Paladins spotted a young woman waving to them from the tower. She had long black hair and a deep purple dress.
"That must be Princess Malocoti," Shirley said.
"They said she was being held captive. But by what?" Suzaku asked.
Suddenly a giant, long red dragon appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around the tower, glaring menacingly at them.
"By that!" Rai shouted.
"Paladins! Form Voltron!" Lelouch shouted.
As the Defender of the Universe landed by the tower, the Paladins were shocked to see that the dragon was about the same size and height as Voltron himself.
It was fast too because before Voltron could so much as try to land a punch, the dragon whipped around them and bashed them in the back with its tail.
With a grunt, Lelouch grimaced, "Shirley, your arrows, now!"
"Got it!" the Orange Paladin exclaimed, slamming her Bayard into Zinnia's keyhole. The bow immediately formed in Voltron's hands as he pulled back a single bright arrow at the dragon.
"Fire!" Just as the arrow left the string, though, the dragon let out a breath of hot fire from its own mouth, canceling out the attack.
"This thing can match our firepower. We need to try something else. Suzaku, form sword!" Lelouch ordered as the familiar sword appeared in Voltron's palms. Those attacks didn't do much good either. The dragon was quickly able to weave out of the way of all the strikes. Despite this, though, the creature made no attempts to strike back either.
"It's too quick! We can't touch it!" Rivalz shouted.
"Shields up!" Lelouch ordered as the dragon finally made to charge at them.
"But it's going to touch us!" Shirley exclaimed, frightened.
"I'm on it!" Rai shouted.
As Voltron flew away to avoid the attack, the dragon suddenly stopped. It started roaring at them, sounding ticked off… but it wasn't attacking them.
"Why isn't it attacking us?" Suzaku asked, confused.
"Yeah, it's like it's… just yelling at us," Kallen added, quirking an eyebrow.
"Wait a second," Milly muttered, speaking for the first time in the battle. She no longer saw the dragon yelling, but Allura yelling at them in the same way she had been at C.C., "I recognize this yelling. This dragon isn't guarding the princess, the dragon is the princess! Put the sword away! She won't hurt us!"
As Voltron did so, shocked. The dragon seemed to quickly calm down after that.
"Wait…" Kallen said, eyes narrowed, "if that's the princess, then… who's that in the tower?"
The dragon-princess started roaring again, pointing frantically at the tower. As Voltron turned, they saw tendrils of red energy emanating from it. The woman they initially thought was Princess Malocoti was charging an attack. With a zap, the sorceress hit Voltron smack in the chest with one of her terrifying spells, pushing the juggernaut backward in surprise.
"I'm guessing she's not a friendly innkeeper!" Rivalz yelled.
As the spell spread across Voltron's chest to the rest of the Lions, they started short-circuiting and sending bolts of electricity everywhere.
"She's tearing into us!" Suzaku shouted, gritting his teeth.
"I can't take much more!" Rai shouted.
"Everyone! Back into Lions!" Lelouch ordered as Voltron snapped back into his seven parts. They scattered, hoping to throw the sorceress off.
"I say we take that witch down!" Milly called out as Maeraka shot out a laser at the tower.
"Let her have it!" Lelouch shouted as the laser made contact and destroyed the top of the tower. That wasn't going to stop the witch so quickly, though, as she leaped down to the ground, more red energy swirling about her hands. She fired another spell that hit Aka right in the stomach.
Kallen cried out in pain, "The blast knocked out all my controls! I'm going down!"
As the Red Lion went down, another spell hit Zinnia, and another hit Polaris. Both Lions joined Kallen below.
"Rai! Go!" Lelouch shouted as he and Zenobia weaved around blasts of magic. From the corner of his eye, he saw Zerith disappear.
"Lelouch, what's-gah!" Suzaku cried as a spell hit him from behind. Maeraka soon followed.
Lelouch grit his teeth as he swerved to avoid all of the spell blasts. It was a bit erratic as the witch was getting overconfident, having taken down five of the Lions already. Despite this, though, Lelouch couldn't help but smirk.
'She doesn't even realize that one of the Lions isn't present,' he thought, just as the witch was slammed down to the ground with a grunt.
"Get off!" she shrieked, as she struggled to free herself from Zerith's claws.
"Well done, Rai," Lelouch praised as Zerith shimmered back into existence.
"Thanks! It was no big deal!" Rai grinned back as the witch continued to scream and thrash.
After the Paladins took their time to tie the witch up and throw her back into the now ruined tower, the dragon suddenly began to shrink. It got smaller and smaller until it was replaced by a young woman. She had long, wavy red hair and was wearing a beautiful yellow and orange dress and a gold tiara on her head. The pattern mirrored that of the dragon that had been in her place just seconds ago.
She suddenly wobbled and fell forward in Lelouch's direction. The Black Paladin instinctively caught her before she fell on her face.
"The prince saves his princess," Milly guffawed as Lelouch sent her a murderous look. The other Paladins snickered as well.
After Lelouch helped Princess Malocoti straighten, she spoke, "I want to thank you all for saving me. While under the sorceress's spell, I could not attack her, but obviously, I could not tell anyone who I really was. But somehow, even though I was just an enraged, screaming monster, you could see who I was, deep down inside."
"Well… let's just say it's not the first time an enraged princess has screamed at us," Rivalz laughed, a little embarrassed.
"And I doubt it will be the last," Kallen added with a small smirk.
Lelouch cleared his throat, "Princess, we know you've been through a lot, but I'm afraid we need your help."
"Anything. I owe you my life!" Malocoti exclaimed.
"We're looking for the Yalexian Pearl…" Shirley started.
Malocoti gasped in fear, "NO! That is a suicide mission!"
"If we don't find it, a friend of ours is going to die," Suzaku explained urgently. "Please, we need you."
Seeing that the Paladins were determined in their quest, Malocoti relented, "To find the Yalexian Pearl, you will need to depend on the bravest and most clever of you all. You, Lelouch."
"Well…" Lelouch said, a slight blush dusting his cheeks. While he knew that was indeed a fact, he wasn't used to being praised so openly. He'd always kept to himself about his intelligence, even in school, despite his good grades.
"It was you who had Rai turn invisible to sneak up on the sorceress and you used yourself as a distraction."
"It's true. I wouldn't have thought to use Zerith's invisibility if you didn't call out to me," Rai agreed.
"Reaching the Yalex means passing the brain-sucking mushrooms, defeating the ghostly chest master, and answering the Riddle of the Sphinx," Malocoti explained further.
"A riddle, huh? That's right up your alley Lulu," Shirley said.
"Very well then," Lelouch said, "Where's this Sphinx you speak of?"
"Hey, is anyone else tired?"
"No!" came the response the Orange Paladin received from the other six.
"Okay, just asking. It's been a while since we've, you know, not been fighting or adventuring or anything," Shirley said as she and the others flew over vast plains of a desert. Princess Malocoti had told them that the Sphinx that they would need to talk to was located in Krell's vast desert. They would be looking for a ziggurat where he would be inhabiting. Though they felt annoyed that they had to travel to another location, hopefully, this one would actually point them in the right direction.
"You think we have it bad?" Kallen asked incredulously, "At least our life force wasn't sucked out to fuel an entire planet. Princess Allura, and even C.C., still haven't fully healed."
"Speaking of princesses," Rivalz said, "Didn't Malocoti say we'd find this zigg-a-whatever here?"
"Ziggurat," Rai corrected, "It's a step pyramid, like the ones in the European Union."
"Okay, but why don't they just call them pyramids then?"
"Just keep looking, Rivalz," Suzaku said, before a screen popped up in Yoru, "Wait. I'm getting a reading!"
"Down there!" Milly shouted as they came upon a vast, majestic ziggurat. It immediately reminded them all of some of the structures in the land that was once known as Egypt. They remembered that one of them had been titled 'The Sphinx' as well.
"It's massive!" Shirley exclaimed as they exited their Lions, "So inside is where we'll find this sphinx guy that'll tell us where the Pearl is?"
They didn't have to go inside though, as to their astonishment, the ziggurat began to shift. The golden pillars and steps rose into the air and changed until in its place stood a towering giant that glared down at them with piercing red eyes.
"I am the Great Universal Sphinx! Why have you disturbed me?" he thundered.
Milly, Rivalz, and Shirley backed away, just a little intimidated by the giant who could easily squash them underneath its feet.
"We're looking for the Yalexian Pearl," Suzaku explained, "We were told you could help us find it. We need it to rescue our friend!"
"I am a repository for great research. I have been analyzing life for over a million years. Of course, I know where the Pearl is! However, I do not know whether you are worthy of the information. Tell me, who is the most knowledgeable amongst you?"
"Him," Rivalz pointed at Lelouch.
"The Black one," Milly confirmed.
"Lulu," Shirley said.
"That's Lelouch," Suzaku acknowledged.
"Lelouch," Kallen gestured with her head.
"This guy," Rai said, pointing a thumb at the Black Paladin.
Lelouch sighed before answering, "Yes, me."
"It is decided. Your body, mind, and spirit shall be tested. Enter to prove yourself… and save your friend."
The Sphinx's deconstructed back into the ziggurat just as quickly as he had appeared. The doors at the top of steps opened to welcome them in.
"Are you sure about this?" Kallen asked, "I have a bad feeling…"
"We have to," Lelouch said, climbing up the steps, "if completing this test is what'll get him to tell us where the Pearl is, then so be it."
"What confuses me is why there's a test of the body when he asked for the smartest person," Rai said as they all entered the first room of the ziggurat.
"Well, Lelouch is the smart one, he could probably figure it out," Rivalz said.
"Actually, I am wondering the same thing…" Lelouch confessed as they entered a room filled with red mushrooms growing on the sides.
"Commence Test of the Body," The Sphinx's voice echoed. Suddenly, six of the mushrooms sprang off from the walls and latched themselves onto the faces of the other Paladins.
"Wha-what are you doing?!" Lelouch exclaimed in alarm as the others fell to their knees, clenching their heads in pain. They suddenly stopped fighting and raised their heads, eyes blank and staring, the mushrooms glowing a dark purple.
"The spores control your friends," the Sphinx said, "You must defeat your allies in combat."
Lelouch backed away, only to see that he was being surrounded. Suddenly, Kallen charged him, her Bayard morphing into her claws.
"They will fight exactly as your friends fight."
Lelouch managed to step back and away from Kallen's swing, only for Rai to grab him from behind.
"Let's see if you're smart enough to defeat them."
Despite his situation, Lelouch managed to headbutt Rai, who loosened his grip enough for Lelouch to escape. However, he failed to notice Suzaku as the Purple Paladin delivered a spinning kick to Lelouch's abdomen. With a yell, Lelouch slid across the floor, back to the center of his foes. He grunted as he struggled back to his feet.
'I can't defeat them; I'm not physically capable… I don't have a choice,' Lelouch gritted his teeth and turned on his Geass.
"I, Lelouch vi Britannia, command you to stop!" he shouted, making eye contact with all of them.
Everyone but Kallen froze in their tracks as his Geass took effect, their eyes lighting up with red. As Kallen tried to charge from the side again, he instinctively raised his hand and zapped her away with a lightning bolt. She tumbled away, her front smoking, but she was okay otherwise as she shook her head in confusion.
"Sorry about that, Kallen…" Lelouch muttered, looking down.
"Impressive. You will rise to the next level." the Sphinx said as the spores detached themselves from them.
"Sorry, Lelouch, we couldn't control ourselves," Suzaku said.
"How did you even beat us anyway?" Rivalz asked.
"I had to use my Geass, it was the only way," Lelouch said reluctantly.
"Your Geass?" Shirley asked, "So you made us stop?"
"I wasn't physically capable of taking all of you on. It was the only way."
"You didn't do that to me!" Kallen said as she got up, "You threw a lightning bolt at me!"
Lelouch sighed. He had hoped that she wouldn't ask so soon, "Yes, I did because it wouldn't work on you a second time Kallen."
"A second-wait! When did you use it on me the first time?!" Kallen demanded darkly.
"Do you need to know now?" Lelouch asked, exasperated.
"YES!" she shouted, face red with anger.
Lelouch sighed again, "All I did was ask you questions about Shinjuku when we were at school, and about the people you worked with. That's all."
Kallen blinked, "That's it?" Then she realized something. "So that's how you, or more specifically, Zero knew so much about us when we first met you!"
"Actually, I suspected you once you got back from school. I specifically asked if you piloted that Glasgow," Lelouch nodded as they started climbing up a flight of stairs, "I recognized your voice, and confirmed it."
"...I see," Kallen sighed. It was pretty clear that she still wasn't pleased about this, but the fact that Lelouch didn't force her to do anything harmful was a relief.
"Wait, Lelouch," Milly suddenly said, "you said your Geass only works on a person once. That means you can't use it on us again, right?"
"That's right," Lelouch nodded, "but I personally hoped that I wouldn't need to use it on any of you. At all. But-"
"Lelouch," Rai placed a hand on his shoulder just as they exited the stairs, "we get it. You did the best you could."
As they arrived in the next room, they came across a very familiar-looking game board.
"The second challenge will be a game of chess."
"Sounds simple enough," Lelouch said with a shrug, "who's my opponent?"
A mushroom suddenly attached itself to Lelouch's head, much to his and everyone's shock. The spore then flew off to the other end of the board.
"Lelouch!" Suzaku said, steadying his friend as he stumbled from the spore's effects, "You okay?"
"Yes," he groaned, shaking his head, "but I feel like I stayed up all night doing nothing."
"Uh… Lelouch, look!" Rivalz asked as Lelouch's vision finally came back to normal. The ex-prince blinked.
On the other end, standing in front of the spore was a holographic image of himself.
"The spore had absorbed your mind. It will use your skills against you. You will have thirty ticks for each move. Begin!"
After he barely heard the instructions, the game began. Lelouch had the first move, moving forward one of the pawns to test just how effective the system was. Just as he expected, his holographic self countered the move with a pawn of his own. After Lelouch moved another pawn, that piece was taken by his hologram.
"How am I supposed to win this?" Lelouch muttered, "it already knows my strategies. I'm going to lose… to me… it knows my plans. Every gambit I make…"
"You can do this, Lulu!" Shirley cheered him on.
"If anyone can beat you, Lelouch, it's you," Milly agreed.
"No, I can't…" Lelouch muttered, feeling similar to how he faced Schneizel in their one-on-one matches back in the day. But he wasn't necessarily fighting alone here, "...but, maybe all of us can! Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't think of doing that. Doing it now could trip up the programming."
He went over each of the team's stats in his head.
'Rivalz's strengths: Better at striking from a distance, good team awareness… and luck.'
"Rivalz, you're in charge of the Rooks. Feed me ideas for maneuvers and warnings for any impending enemy Rook attacks."
'Shirley: Also good at range. Fearful, but that's made her good at not attacking straight on.'
"Shirley, you've got Bishops."
'Suzaku attacks from the side, like a ninja, catching his enemies unaware.'
"Suzaku, you're in charge of the Knights."
'Kallen: Versatile. Able to attack from all sides and directions.'
"Kallen, you keep an eye on the Queen, as well as the enemy's."
'Rai: Intelligence expert. He easily gathers information with his hacking abilities. Milly is also good at working out her foe's weaknesses. Can have a habit of blackmail as well.'
"Rai, Milly, you both will keep track of the pawns. Everyone, we're going to work together to beat me."
The game continued. The hologram, on the other end, made no expression as the match continued. Still, Lelouch could see that his new strategy was slowly working as his friends gave him tips throughout it.
"That's all I've got," Rivalz said.
"I'm pretty limited too," Suzaku added.
"Can we risk anymore?" Milly asked Rai.
"I wouldn't, we already lost too many," Rai argued.
"Heads up, she's coming in hot," Kallen warned Lelouch after he moved one of the Rooks.
"Yeah, you know this, but both of my pieces are gone," Shirley said apologetically.
"That's fine. Because if I use the Queen… Checkmate!"
The others cheered as Lelouch couldn't help but smirk in victory. They suddenly jumped as the floor beneath them began to rise, with an opening appearing in the ceiling above.
"Now to the most difficult challenge of all…" the Sphinx exclaimed. Once they reached the top, the pyramid began to shift back into the Sphinx again, causing the group to take a sliding tumble down to the bottom again.
"Answer my riddle, and I will tell you where the Pearl is."
Lelouch tisked as he got to his feet to face the Sphinx for the final time.
"What happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object?"
Lelouch actually had to think about this one. He usually was reasonably good at figuring riddles out. But if two forces that can't be moved or stopped meet, wouldn't they cancel each other out? No, if the immovable object stopped the unstoppable force, then the force wouldn't be considered unstoppable. But if the force managed to move the immovable object, then the object wouldn't be considered immovable.
There was really no correct answer. It was impossible either way… wait!
"There is no correct answer," Lelouch finally said.
"Wait. What?"
"Huh?"
"How come?"
"What do you mean?"
"Simple, one can't exist if the other is present. If there is a truly unstoppable force, then there is no object that can stop it. Likewise, if there is a truly immovable object, there can be no force that can move it. Hence, neither can exist together."
"Incredible," the Sphinx said, actually looking surprised, "You're the first being to ever answer that riddle correctly. It was designed to be unsolvable."
"All right, we had a deal!" Kallen shouted, "Lelouch passed your stupid tests! Tell us where the Pearl is now!"
"Very well, it's in the evershadow of our moon. But it is a dangerous place, and darkness lurks below."
"Oh please! We're the Paladins of Voltron. We can take care of a little darkness!" Kallen fired back as she and the others retreated back to their Lions. Now that the Pearl's location had finally been revealed, it was time to save Coran.
Now Voltron had faced many foes over his long lifetime. He's laid waste to hostile armies, destroyed horrifying monsters, displayed near mastery over space and time itself. All these accomplishments had been spread far and wide throughout the universe.
As they passed from race to race, planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy, reports were spun into tales, and tales embroidered into legends. Legends that gave the mystical warrior his nom de guerre, the Defender of the Universe.
But defending the entire universe means nothing if Voltron can't save a single friend in need, and time is running out.
So the Paladins of Voltron race to the evershadow of the moon of planet Krell, searching for a treasure that could buy a man's life, under the burning stare of the Inner Eye.
Voltron landed lightly on the moon's surface. From what the Paladins could tell from the landscape, it looked similar to their own moon on Earth, but it was more of rusty color than grey.
"Stay vigilant. The Yalex could be anywhere," Lelouch ordered.
"Or anything," Suzaku added, "That Sphinx didn't exactly provide a lot of detail."
"It must be a giant oyster, right?" Milly said, "To save Coran, we need to harvest a pearl."
"Guys, we've gone through a sphinx, a dragon, and two giant whatever-they-were bugs to get here. I think we can handle an oyster," Kallen said.
"Yeah, but if all we have to do is say 'Form Blazing Shucker,' I'm going to be a little bit down," Rivalz said.
"Let's just find it and get back to Coran. This place is giving me the chills," Shirley said.
They all suddenly looked below; they spotted a small figure walking in their direction.
"You think that's the Yalex?" Rai asked as the creature calmly walked past them. It barely even spared them a glance.
"If that's the Yalex, he's one pretty cool cucumber," Rivalz said, "We just landed a giant fightin' robot on his moon, and he's all like 'meh.'"
Lelouch narrowed his eyes, something was off, "Let's find out who it is. But be ready. I have a feeling we're going to need Voltron before all this is over. Disassemble!"
The seven Lions broke off and flew towards a flat plain close to a large building. Upon closer inspection, most of the ground was covered in what looked like some sort of grain.
"Let's set down over near that mound," Lelouch directed.
"Masks up," Rai warned as an alert sign appeared in Zerith, "The atmosphere here is poisonous. Looks like some kind of underground methane reserve coming out of the hole back there."
By the time they landed and exited their Lions, they were able to catch up to the figure they spotted earlier. Up close, they saw that the character was walking on four legs, like a camel, and also had a breathing mask and goggles on.
"Hello!" Suzaku greeted as they got closer.
"Have you come for the Yalex?" the creature asked, turning calmly towards them.
"Yes, do you know where it is?" Lelouch confirmed.
"Or what it is?" Shirley asked apprehensively.
"Yes. Where, what, and when. Follow me," he said mysteriously. The camel alien led the group into what looked like an old, ancient church or temple. Inside were more of the camel creatures. They were bent over a hole in the ground and were… chewing the grain inside of it. But they weren't eating it.
"This is the temple of the Yalex," the camel explained, now up on two legs. Looking up, the Paladins saw that the walls and ceiling of the temple were covered in writing and different symbols.
"There don't seem to be enough of you here to grow all this grain," Milly said.
"Oh, we did not do it alone," the camel said, "The rest of our people left the moon and returned to Krell after the growing season. Only the high priests remain. We will stay here and devote our remaining days to bringing about the Yalex."
"Why are they chewing up the grain and spitting it in those jars?" Kallen asked, raising an eyebrow at the other priests.
"Here, we dry the grain, then masticate it and preserve it in the cuspidors. When they are full, we carry them to the eye of the evershadow and pour them in."
"Eww! Why?" Shirley asked, looking disgusted.
"To feed the Spirit of the Moon. To strengthen him."
"...Okay, this guy is looney-tooney!" Rivalz declared.
"Wait!" Rai exclaimed as his eyes were drawn to the very center of the ceiling. Positioned, there was a large white sphere, being held up in a set of claws, "Is that the Pearl?"
"Yes…" the priest confirmed.
"I knew it! The whole place is a map! Score one for Rai!" the Green Paladin grinned.
"...The Pearl, the moon, the eye, time, life, all are the circle. Never ending, never broken," the priest explained.
Rai's smile fell and was replaced by a scowl, "Stupid symbolism…"
"Okay, this guy is definitely looney-tooney. Let's go look for the Yalex," Rivalz said as he turned to leave the temple.
"You do not need to look for it," the priest corrected, "Can you not see the calendar? The Yalex comes soon."
"How do you know when it's coming?" Suzaku asked.
"Who told you this?" Lelouch added.
"We follow the ways of the Haruspex," the priest said, pointing to a picture of a hooded woman, who had images of different moon phases above her, "she tells us of the end times."
The priest then approached one of the full containers as he put his goggles back on, "Come, let us feed the Moon Spirit."
"So… this Yalex, what is it?" Milly asked as they walked back outside.
"None living have seen the Yalex," the priest answered, "Seeing the Yalex means death. The Yalex is the End of Days."
"That doesn't sound good," Shirley said.
"Of course it is good," the priest corrected as the Paladins followed in a single file behind him, "Our lives here are lived in ignorance. When we die, all is revealed, and we continue our journey under the watchful eye of the Conqueror."
"Okay, but what about the Pearl?" Rivalz asked skeptically.
"The Yalex is the Pearl!"
"It is?" Rivalz asked, looking taken aback.
"The Pearl of Wisdom that comes at the end of time," the priest said, smiling beneath his mask, "The Yalex is creator and destroyer, treasure and terror, redeemer and annihilator, savior and executioner. One is all, the fire in the dark, the eye that is blind is the most prized!"
"...Looney. Tooney," Rivalz declared again. This time most of the other Paladins were having similar thoughts, though they chose not to voice them.
As they finally got to their destination, the priest took the container and began pouring the chewed up grain into the hole in front of them.
"Uh, are you sure the Moon Spirit likes camel spit?" Shirley asked. She was still a little grossed out at this strange ritual.
"Your Holiness," Lelouch said respectfully, "We mean no disrespect for your customs, but we have a friend who's going to die unless we can find a Yalexian Pearl, and-"
"At last!" the priest exclaimed as the ground beneath them began to rumble. It was equivalent to an 8.0 earthquake as several of the party lost balance.
Then, to their horror, a giant leg punctured through the surface of the moon!
"The birth that is death has begun!"
The entire half of the moon exploded outward, throwing the Paladins off the surface and into open space. From inside of it was a creature with four red legs and three pairs of translucent, purple wings flapping madly in the vacuum of space. It had eight, purple glands which were shooting purple lasers in all directions.
"The Yalex is here!"
"Is everyone okay?" Lelouch asked desperately as he flew away from the Yalex and towards Zenobia. She and the other Lions had been blown away by the blast as well, "See if you can jetpack back to your Lions!"
"Rivalz and I are okay!" Milly confirmed as Polaris and Maeraka came into view.
"Oh! Speak for yourself! I'm alive, but 'okay' got blown up with that moon!" the Blue Paladin exclaimed.
"We're heading towards our Lions, Lelouch!" Suzaku shouted as he pulled Rai and Kallen towards Zerith, Aka, and Yoru.
"Shirley! Are you out there?!" Lelouch shouted.
"I'm out here!" she whimpered as she floated right in the path of one of the Yalex's lasers, "And I'm not alone!"
Shirley screamed just as Lelouch swooped in and scooped her up in Zen's jaws, narrowly avoiding the laser blast.
"I have Shirley. Taking her to Zinnia," Lelouch shouted over the sounds of the firefight outside, The Yalex had just finished destroying the other half of the moon, the temple priests floating and scattering everywhere! "Everyone get into formation! We have to take this thing out before it destroys planet Krell! Form Voltron!"
The moment Shirley was dropped off in her Lion, she and the others flew into formation, and the Defender of the Universe formed once again.
"Now, let's get that Yalex!" Lelouch shouted as Voltron charged head-on at the monster, "Shields up!"
Just as Voltron formed his shield, one of the Yalex's massive lasers hit it point-blank, causing him to tumble backward.
"This thing is too huge to fight!" Kallen shouted as they dodged around another laser.
"Our weapons don't have any effect!" Suzaku added with a rare tone of panic in his tone.
"If we take another direct hit, our shield is going to explode!" Rai exclaimed as another laser hit them.
"It can shoot out of every eye!" Milly cried, "We're bound to get hit sooner or later!"
"Too many eyes!" Rivalz yelled.
"RUN!" Shirley screamed as they swooped around another laser, this one barely skidding past them.
They flew high above the Yalex, putting as much distance between them and it as possible. Suddenly, Lelouch noticed something.
"Wait a second…" then he realized, the eye that was in the center was white! "'The eye that is blind is the most prized!' The priest was right!"
"Uh, I think we just lost Lulu!" Shirley said with a nervous expression.
"No, I know where the Pearl is! It's in the center of the Yalex's head! The white eye!"
"Oh, perfect. Let's just go down there and get it," Rivalz said sarcastically.
"Yeah, I hate to say this, Lelouch, but maybe it's time we gave up," Suzaku admitted.
"No!" Lelouch immediately denied as Voltron used one of the asteroids to shield against the lasers, "We can beat this thing, get that pearl, and save Coran! We just need a way to get in close. Rai, if Rivalz can form a layer of ice on our shield, could that act as a mirror to deflect the Yalex's lasers?"
"A few times, maybe, but then the heat will melt the ice!" the Green Paladin answered.
"Then, we'll all be cooked!" Milly added.
"Then we'll have to be fast. Rivalz split off and ice up that shield. Kallen, Rai is going to be handling defense, so you're going to have to reach in and pluck out that big white eye."
"Got it!" Kallen shouted just as Rivalz split off.
Once the shield was iced, the team sprung into action, charging head-on towards the Yalex. The monster shot two powerful lasers at them. Just as Lelouch predicted, the lasers were redirected by the icy shield, firing right back at the beast.
"Nice one, Rai!" Shirley cheered.
"Almost there, get ready, Kallen!" Lelouch ordered.
Just as Kallen was about to reach for the Pearl, one of the lasers bounced off their shield again and hit the Yalex nearly in the middle of its head. One second later, the monster exploded in a fiery inferno.
"No!" Kallen screamed.
"Uh-oh!" Milly gasped, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"It's gone," Rai moaned.
"And so is the Pearl," Suzaku added.
"What do we do now?" Rivalz asked desperately.
"What can we do?" Shirley asked nervously, "Without that pearl, we can't save Coran!"
"Don't give up just yet. We just saved Krell, and we can save these priests," Lelouch said as Zerith and Aka started scooping the aliens into their mouths, "We're Defenders of the Universe now, remember? Not just the defenders of our friends."
Despite the words of comfort, though, Lelouch was also nervous because Shirley was right. Unless they brought back that Pearl, they had nothing to trade for Coran. That certainly threw a wrench into their plan.
"Thank you for returning us to our people," the head priest said, as Voltron landed outside another smaller pyramid below, "I suppose this is the beginning of a new age. Just not in the way we imagined."
"We're happy to see you all reunited," Kallen said, offering a small smile.
"Yeah, now we have to see if we can reunite with our friend," Suzaku said.
"Before you leave, check over the hill in the distance. You may see something that interests you," the priest told them.
Though perplexed and curious, the Paladins in Voltron did just that. To their surprise and relief, it was the Pearl. It had somehow survived the explosion from the Yalex.
Now with the giant treasure in hand, Voltron rocketed back to the Frippin' Bulgolgian. They were surprised to see Coran and Kythilian casually waiting for them.
"I told you they could do it! Pay up!" the advisor held out his hand.
Kythilian dropped a small bag of money into his hands, shaking his head in disbelief, "I don't believe it. I figured they'd survive, sure, but…"
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Shirley asked, confused just as the rest of them were.
"Successful training mission, Paladins!" Coran grinned, "Fried turtle scallions on me!"
"That whole thing was a training mission?!" Rai shouted, suddenly angry.
"We nearly got killed!" Milly exclaimed similarly.
"What? You didn't have any fun? Last time we did this, Alfor-"
Coran suddenly cried out in pain as Kallen marched up to him and kicked him where the sun didn't shine. As the advisor sank to his knees in agony, he lifted up his head towards the Red Paladin.
"Fun? FUN?! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MANY TIMES WE ALMOST DIED ON THIS LITTLE MISSION OF YOURS?!" she bellowed in a deep, angry tone. Her head had grown to three times the size it originally was, her eyes were white and full, her teeth were comically sharp and spiky, and flames were shooting up from behind her in the background. With the way her hair curled, it looked like her head was aflame as well.
Coran whimpered and leaned back. He certainly had not been expecting this kind of reaction when the Paladins returned.
"You know Coran, in retrospect, you kind of had that coming," Kythilian laughed at the Altean's predicament. The Red Paladin looked like she was about to pummel Coran further, and the Green, Yellow, Orange, and Blue Paladins looked just about to either join in or let her. Lelouch was just standing back with a strange looking smile on his face while Suzaku looked to be the only one trying to defuse the situation.
"Hey, hey, calm down guys," Suzaku said with a small, but nervous smile. He knew how dangerous the territory he was walking upon was, as it was never a good idea if an enraged, red-headed female was involved. "I-I'm sure Coran had a good reason for all this. Right?"
"Wait, so Coran, you were never really in danger?" Milly asked accusingly.
"No, but that was a good way to motivate you," Coran breathed as he got back to his feet, "But Krell was in danger from the Yalex, and we knew Voltron was the only thing that could possibly stop it. And now that Kythlian has the Pearl, he can sell it and use the GAC to fight Zarkon."
Lelouch sighed, "While this wasn't what I would consider a 'training mission,' we did show how much we've improved as a team, so I suppose it's not a complete lost cause." He then grinned evilly. "But… that still doesn't change the fact of how dangerous it truly was, so I believe I have the perfect punishment for you, Coran."
The advisor gulped at the smirk Lelouch was flashing. A shadow seemed to fall over the Black Paladin's eyes, making his eyes look white and piercing as well.
Let's just say that by the time they got back to the castle, the princess had a few choice words to speak to her advisor as she chased him around on a hoverchair for the remainder of the evening.
AN: So, here's the second half of the comic book adventure! I hope you enjoyed it. Now bear in mind, that I'm not as familiar with the comics as with the show, so if some of the characters seem OOC then I'm sorry, I did my best to keep them true.
Also, I've been getting a lot of messages asking about my other fics. So I'll just address that now:
Spark of Fire: I'll be honest, I've sort of lost interest in this fanfiction. I started it in Sophmore year of high school when I was just starting to seriously write, and now that I look back on it, it's a bit of a mess with how many characters I've included in it. I literally had to force myself to finish the single chapter that I've published since my eighteen-month hiatus. So, unfortunately, that fic is probably going up for adoption. If any of you are interested in adopting it, let me know.
Akame ga Titan: Now this I have NOT lost interest in. But a lot of stuff has happened in the Attack on Titan franchise since I've returned. I'm currently trying to catch up with what's going on in the manga before I continue with the fic, that way I understand the direction I want to go with it later on because the second half of it I plan to have take place in the AoT world. So, just be patient with me, please. If anyone wants to give me a detailed summary of what's happened since they found Eren's basement and learned about his Dad's past, feel free to do so. But I promise I'm going to keep working on this one as best as I can.
Burning Bridges: My co-writer and I actually have about six more chapters/povs written down on paper. The problem is that my co-writer lives out of state and is the one with the handwritten drafts right now. So sometimes it takes a while for her to find time to type them up. We're still slowly working on it, so just like with Akame ga Titan, just be patient with us, please!
Now if that helps with all your concerns, R&R and see you next episode!
(Also, again, if anyone is a part of the TVtrope website, please go and update my trope page, it's been a while, and the people that originally made it are busy with other pages and stories of their own. Thank you!)
