Allura's POV

Coran nervously paced as I watched the sky, hoping the new Paladins could retrieve the Red Lion. "Did I make a mistake by throwing them into a dangerous mission?"

I quickly shook that thought out of my head, only for others to pop in. "It would be like last time when… Shiro has been Zarkon's prisoner, if he gets captured again…" Four streaks of light caught my attention, the lions! The paladins did it!

"Coran, open the Green Lion's hangar and the emergency passage leading to the Black Lion's." I commanded before opening a communication transmission to all the lions, instructing the paladins to let the lions guide them to the hangar to land.

Once the transmission ended, I ran to meet them as the four lions entered. The sight of the lions made me think back to when I would sneak away from Hys' lessons and hang out with the Paladins. I smiled melancholily at the memory knowing that they were gone after 10,000 years; only to hear the lions moving into position, snapping me out of it and reminding me of the present threat.

I looked up to see that the lions seemed to know what to do as the Green Lion lowered its head, and Shiro walked out– for a moment, I thought that I was seeing Ryou. But I quickly shook my head, it was just R— Shiro's armour. I instructed him to stand in front of the locked door with the Red Lion on his left and the Green Lion on his right.

"Everything is in place, Princess." Coran's voice rang from the castle's PA system, making me hesitant. Even if the four lions are present, it all hinges on whether or not the Black Lion accepts Shiro.

"It will be okay." Shiro reassured me with a soft smile, that helped strengthen my resolve.

"I'll be on the bridge. Now, don't move. The lions will unlock the door." I instructed the Paladins one last time before leaving the room. Still, I couldn't help but feel anxious. There's still a possibility that the Black Lion won't accept Shiro, especially since one of her former Paladins is still alive, and he still has a connection to the lion thanks to the stolen bayard. Not to mention that Shiro's quintessence may be completely different from Ryou's, despite looking so much like him right now.

Shiro's POV

I stood with my eyes on the door for about a couple of minutes now, and I could have sworn I sensed the eyes of the four lions lighting up. I was about to ask if anyone did anything to make the lions power up when the blue accents on the door lit up before it opened.

My eyes widen in awe as the Black Lion… my lion… is slowly being revealed to me. The memories from my childhood dreams where I piloted her flashed through my mind. The Black Lion powered up before letting out a roar, with the other four roaring in response.

*You've kept your promise.* A familiar, comforting voice echoed in my head, *It's so good to see you again, old friend.* I was slightly confused; true, it felt like I've known the Black Lion my whole life. But this is actually our first meeting. What promise was she talking about?

The alarms went off throughout the castle, indicating one thing. The Black Lion instinctively lowered her head for me to run in.

"Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere." Allura informed over the PA system, "We need Voltron now!"

Normal POV

The Black Lion glided Shiro to the control for him to grab, earning a roar before all five lions flew out of the castle and landed in between the castle's door and the particle barrier protecting it.

"The ion cannon is back online!" A male galra informed Sendak, "Fire!"

The ion cannon powered up before unleashing a powerful blast at the barrier, causing everyone inside it to groan as they brace themselves through the impact. "Man, those Galra guys repair things fast." Hunk commented.

"The barrier gets weaker with every blast." Coran informed Allura, "Once that shield goes down, the castle will be defenseless."

"I can give you cover with the castle defenses for a while," The princess communicated with the Paladins, "but you have to form Voltron now or we'll be all destroyed!"

"Jeez, no pressure." Hunk muttered once the transmission stopped.

Shiro's POV

The ion cannon fired a second blast, forcing me to groan from its intensity. Allura's right! We need Voltron now.

"Listen up, Team Voltron!" I radioed into the other, "The only way to succeed is to give it all you've got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?"

There was silence, but I can imagine that they were nodding in agreement.

"I'm nodding. Is everyone else nodding?" Hunk asked, confirming my guess.

"Yes." Lance, Pidge, and Keith briskly replied.

"Let's do this!" I said as Black and I led the charge, with the others following suit.

"Uh, how?" Lance's question made me realize that while Voltron is needed right now, I have no idea how to do so.

"Good question. Does anyone have any ideas of how to form Voltron?" I responded.

"I don't see a 'combine into a giant robot' button anywhere on my dashboard." Hunk radioed in as I noticed the Galra fighter drones focusing in on us. While I'm not too keen on the idea of getting blasted, it should thankfully divert most of their attention away from the castle.

"This is insane!" Pidge commented out of frustration, "Can't they just cease-fire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is that too much to ask?"

I caught a glimpse of the Green Lion attacking two of the fighter jets, destroying them in the process. Keith must have noticed and followed Pidge's idea, firing the Red Lion's tail cannon at two more.

"We've got to do something." My brother said before the Yellow Lion suddenly slammed into the Red Lion, "Combine!" Hunk's voice rang up through the radio.

Normal POV

Keith groaned as his lion rolled over before regaining control, "Hey!" he barked.

"Okay, that didn't work." Hunk sheepishly replied before more fighter jets fired in their direction, forcing the lions to run.

Princess Allura opened the transmission, "Quickly, Paladins! Our energy levels are getting low!" she pleaded before another blast from the ion cannon upset her balance a bit and forced the transmission to close.

Shiro looked on with concern before an idea came to him, "Maybe if we fly in formation, we'll just combine." He pitched his idea to the others, "Take off on my cue."

The other four lions quickly got into position as the five of them ran toward a cliffside, "One, two, three, Voltron!"

"Here we go!" Keith said.

"Come on, come on!" Lance pleaded.

Shiro's POV

"Nothing's happening." I said. However, I thought that it would somehow work; especially since I had to recall some of my childhood dreams for ideas.

"Hey, wait, wait, wait!" Lance suddenly radioed in, "I feel something!"

"I do, too. I feel it." Hunk replied, "It's like we're all being pulled in the same direction!"

I felt it, too. But it doesn't feel right. I looked around until I looked up, "Uh, guys, I think I know why. Look up."

"What the cheese?" Lance said incredulously.

"Sendak's ship is sucking us in like a black hole!" Pidge's voice sounds a little anxious. I can't believe that I didn't realize it sooner; the Galra fighters were purposely guiding us to take off where the warship would activate their tractor beam. I ended up leading the others into a trap! The ion cannon fired again at the particle barrier, destroying it and leaving Allura and Coran vulnerable.

"Oh, no!" If the ion cannon gets fired one more time…

"I-I don't care what you say, Shiro. I'm panicking now!" Hunk radioed in as he began to scream.

"It can't end here!" Pidge said as I imagined her trying to fight the tractor beam's hold on the Green Lion.

"This is it!"

"It's been an honour flying with you boys." Keith voicing defeat made me think back to the day after our parents' funeral. Our home was burnt down, and a social worker was planning to separate us– with my brother accepting that possibility until Sam intervened by explaining that we were being enrolled into the Galaxy Garrison.

My mind then thought about Allura and I can imagine her looking on helplessly as her lions were being taken away. These lions… They're the universe's last hope, and I… we can't let that hope die. I tighten my grip as my resolve returns.

"No! We can do this. We have to believe in ourselves." I spoke up, "We can't give up. We're the universe's only hope. Everyone is relying on us. We can't fail! We won't fail! If we work together, we'll win together!"

"Yeah!"

Normal POV

The ion cannon powered up before fire again, only the blast missed the vulnerable castle. Both Coran and Princess Allura look on in surprise as the castle system detects something on the Galra's warship as the smoke clears, revealing a giant robot that punches the ion cannon away from the castle and leaving a dent in the said cannon.

Sendak gasped, "Voltron!"

"I can't believe it!" Keith said excitedly.

"We formed Voltron!" Pidge exclaimed.

"I'm a leg!" Hunk commented in surprise.

"How are we doing this?" Lance asked in bewilderment.

"I don't know, but let's get that cannon!" Shiro replied before reminding the team of the threat. Both the Red Lion and the Green Lion grabbed hold of the dented ion cannon, and with a great pull from Voltron, broke the cannon off like a twig from a tree before sending it flying.

Voltron then punched into the warship where the Red Lion fired its cannon through, leaving an explosion that damaged part of the Galra ship. Sendak groaned as he regained his balance at the control, he then looked up to see Voltron moving to another part of his ship; and destroying that area. He and his lieutenant knew that they had to abandon the ship in order to live and fight another day.

Voltron flew into the air before charging toward the damaged ship, and with a mighty yell from the Paladins, bore through and landed with the ship exploding behind in the air.

Shiro's POV

The lions separated and landed in the courtyard where we disembarked, all of us feeling the adrenaline slowly draining.

"Good work, Paladins!" Allura commended as she and Coran came outside to greet us, I'm just glad that they're safe.

"Thanks, pretty lady." Lance replied as I gently pushed on Keith's shoulder.

"We did it." I said, still not believing that we actually formed Voltron.

"Heck yeah, we did." My brother agreed as he took his helmet off.

"How did we do it?" I asked while looking at my baby brother.

"I was just, like, screaming the whole time." I turned at Hunk's voice to see him stand up and pull his helmet off with some effort, "Maybe that did it."

My eyes fell on Pidge putting her glasses back on before looking down at the ground in defeat. Keith and I realized that she missed her father and brother as I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"We're not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father." I reassured her, "Wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you."

"We won the battle, but the war has only just begun." Allura spoke up, bringing our attention back to the Princess, "I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions."

"Good thing you paladins know what you're doing, because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again." Coran said.

"Totally." Hunk said before his mind registered what Coran had said, "Wait, what?"

"We barely survived forming Voltron this one time." Lance added.

"And you only had to fight one ship." Coran replied, "Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe."

For some reason, the title sounds familiar.

"Defenders of the Universe, huh? That's got a nice ring to it." I commented as I look back at the lions.