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naruwitch · 4 years

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Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 19: The Black Paladin

Rai directed Zerith back to the Castle of Lions as quickly as possible. The longer they took to make their plan, the more danger Allura and C.C. would be in.

The moment they landed, they rushed out of the Lion and onto the Castle's main bridge. Coran was there, waiting for them. When he saw that only the seven Paladins returned, he knew immediately that something was amiss.

"Rai, scan the download from the ship. Find out where Zarkon's Central Command is," Lelouch ordered fervently.

"On it!" The Green Paladin acknowledge, practically launching himself into his control seat and bringing up the computer screen, Shirley and Milly looking over his shoulder.

"What happened?" Coran asked, running over to them, "Where's Allura?"

"She and C.C. were captured. They sacrificed themselves to save me and the information. I didn't have a choice," Lelouch regrettably told the advisor.

"Wha-how is that possible?" Coran demanded, eyes wide and heart racing in panic. This was his worst nightmare coming to pass!

"Coran, I'm sorry things didn't go as planned, but we can't focus on what went wrong. We've got to figure out how to make it right. Rai, anything?" Lelouch shouted at the Green Paladin urgently.

"Guys, you need to see this," Rai said with wide eyes, pulling the image up to the main screen. Everyone's eyes widened at the massive size of the Central Command Center. It was probably the size of a small moon at the very least!

"Look at the size of it!" Coran gasped in fear.

"Are you saying that C.C. and Allura are being taken there?!" Shirley asked, visibly shaking.

"Lelouch, I think we should go in right away," Kallen said to her team leader, "Every minute we waste gives Zarkon time to prepare for us."

"I agree," Rivalz nodded, "We form Voltron, fly in, fly out, dust off our hands, and walk away."

"Um, do you guys not remember the Balmera?" Shirley asked, looking at them all anxiously, "We could barely take out one fleet. But this... a base this size could hold a thousand fleets!"

"I hate to admit it, but Shirley does have a point…" Milly agreed with a worried frown.

"Maybe we should consider other options," Suzaku said, "going after C.C. and Allura may not be the best course of action. We'll be delivering the universe's only hope to the universe's biggest enemy," as he talked everyone's, even Lelouch's faces morphed from confused to shocked. Was this seriously coming out of Suzaku's mouth?! During the mission, he was the one most concerned for Allura's safety besides Coran. Now that she was captured, he was saying that they shouldn't go after her at all?

Noticing their expression Suzaku was quick to reiterate his statement. "What I'm trying to say is, maybe we should look at options that don't involve charging head-on. Maybe we can use stealth. We use Zerith's cloaking to sneak into central command, and once inside, Shirley's Geass can cloak us further. We find C.C. and the Princess and then just get out! We won't even need to fight!"

"I don't know if stealth is an option, Suzaku," Rai admitted, looking back at the base on the screen, "just look at this thing. The defensive capabilities seem nearly impenetrable!"

"Besides, we might not have time for stealth anyway!" Kallen added, "That takes planning and timing, which we just don't have right now! Plus, what do you think would happen if Zarkon finds out C.C. is immortal or about Geass? Who knows what he could do with it?!"

Suzaku's eyes widened, "I-I didn't think about that…"

"Of course you didn't," Kallen sneered, "just like you assumed that everything would be fine and dandy if you became an Honorary Brittanian!"

"What?!" Suzaku squawked in shock, "What on Earth does that have to do with anything?!"

"You think things would get better if you just followed orders like a good boy and maybe your people would be treated better?! I don't know what kind of fairy tale you're playing at Suzaku, but it definitely isn't reality!"

"First of all, this is a completely different situation! You have no right to judge me!" Suzaku argued back, gritting his teeth in anger.

Before Kallen could bark back, Rivalz got in between them, "Guys stop! Listen, we're all upset that we lost C.C. and Allura, but fighting isn't going to help anyone!"

"No! Lelouch is the one that lost them!" Coran exclaimed, looking pointedly at the prince.

"Hey! Last time we checked, you weren't even there! You got no room to put the blame on Lelouch like that!" Kallen glared hard at the advisor, fists shaking.

"That's enough!" Milly suddenly shouted authoritatively, "Sitting here and arguing isn't going to help anyone, especially Allura and C.C.!"

"Alright," Lelouch said after taking a deep breath, "First things first, we need to locate the base. We find that we'll find them."

o~o

The Galra ship was just coming to dock at Central Command. The crew themselves seemed quite elated. Who would have thought that a routine stop at an outpost would've led to capturing one of the biggest enemies to the Empire? The Emperor would likely reward them nicely, maybe even promote them to the main fleet.

The two prisoners in question were seated together in a single cell, as it was big enough to house both of them. They were both seated and silent, anticipating what was to follow.

As they felt the ship dock, C.C. gasped as she felt a pulse in her head, the Geass mark on her forehead flaring slightly.

Allura didn't have time to ask C.C. what was wrong when they heard the door to their cell opening. Standing there to greet them were three druids, the middle one being the very leader of them herself.

"Come with me," Haggar ordered, her tone showing that any other option would result in dire consequences.

As the two women were being led out of the cell, cuffed, C.C.'s headache intensified, the mark resonating even more.

Hearing her slight groans of discomfort, Haggar stole a glance at the Princess's companion. Overall, she looked similar to the other Earthlings that the Galra captured just a few years ago, however… the witch could certainly sense some abnormal energy emanating off of the girl. And it felt vaguely familiar.

'Interesting…'

o~o

"Anything?" Lelouch asked around the bridge as everyone was working on trying and finding either a weak spot or an entry point into the base.

"There's just no way in," Rivalz said with a frown.

"He's right," Suzaku confirmed from his station, "They'll have us tracked from every direction."

"Keep looking! There's got to be something!" the Black Paladin ordered. He then looked towards the central computer, seeing Coran. The advisor hadn't said a word since they'd all begun their search. Lelouch's expression turned solemn. He had a pretty good idea of what the advisor was feeling right now. It was likely similar to how he felt when he learned what had happened to his mother. But unlike the Empress, Lelouch swore that they would get Allura returned safely.

Lelouch approached the advisor cautiously. He wasn't exactly the best at comforting people unless it was Nunnally, but he had to say something. Despite what the others said, Allura and C.C. were still captured on his watch, and he had to take responsibility for it.

"I know you're worried about her. We all are. I'm sorry I let her slip away," he apologized, looking down forlornly.

Coran looked sadly at the Black Paladin, "I know it's not your fault. It's just... I've already lost so much. I can't lose Allura, too."

Lelouch smiled painfully, "I feel the same way about Nunnally."

"Your sister, correct?"

"Yes."

"...I've heard Allura talk a lot about you, and your sister with her father," Coran admitted. Lelouch looked up at him in surprise. "She's discussed whether or not we can not only improve your sister's condition but also improve the state of affairs on your planet. One of the things she wants more than ever right now is for all people to live peacefully, and that includes yourself."

Lelouch blinked and then smiled slightly. Though he wouldn't admit it aloud, he was greatly touched by what Coran said. He really hoped that such peace could become a reality someday.

He quickly turned his thoughts back to the situation, "Don't worry, we'll find a way to get her back. We just need a way to get close to Zarkon's ship unseen."

"Wait a tick, I think I've got a way!" Coran suddenly realized, as the image of one of the small planets orbiting the base expanded onto the screen.

o~o

The platform rose slowly, bringing its occupants to the main level of the center. The windows gave a perfect view of the universe outside as stars sparkled in the distance. But their majestic luster was lost as the two women were brought closer to a lone figure in a red cape.

As C.C. laid her eyes on the Emperor of Galra himself for the first time, a little bubbling sense of anxiety began to swell inside her. It was an emotion she hadn't appropriately felt in years, and to feel it rising up now of all times terrified her even more.

"Princess Allura," Zarkon's baritone voice acknowledge, not even turning to face his captives.

"You monster!" Allura exclaimed, charging furiously at the Emperor, "You destroyed Altea!" Before Allura could even reach the Emperor, though, Haggar's evil magic gripped the Princess in the air before she collapsed to the ground, panting from the pain of it. "Voltron is going to put an end to your empire!" she glared daggers up at the leader.

"No, it will only make me more powerful," Zarkon countered, "Your father knew that as well as I. That's why he led me to believe he destroyed it all those years ago. But now, your new Paladins will come for you, and they will deliver Voltron to me, and, with it, the key to unimaginable power."

The Emperor's eyes then tracked to their other captive. The green-haired Earthling that was supposedly traveling with his enemy, "Who is this?"

"I am uncertain," Haggar said, before she raised her hand again, her magic gathering, "but I intend to find out."

C.C. gasped in pain as Haggar's magic also lifted her in the air. And she was unable to contain her screams as what felt like hot knives and claws began ripping into her mind, ripping it open and exposing long-buried memories to the surface.

"No! Stop!" Allura cries as she tries to rush to help C.C., only for the two other druids to restrain her with their own spells.

Haggar's eyes widened slightly as she saw the Geass symbol on the girl's forehead begin to glow, images of her memories flashing before her eyes.

"He mustn't die!" she cried as she leaped in front of a young boy as a bullet embedded itself in her skull. Moments later, the same boy is crouched over what he thinks is her lifeless body, only for the said body to grasp his hand, linking him to the mysterious power that she held inside of her.

Another human, this one in the uniform of the Orange Paladin, gasps as she grasps her hand, the same link forming between the two in the Balmeran prison.

Other bits and pieces flashed past her eyes. A large human with white hair standing in what appears to be ancient ruins, a female human with long flowing brown hair standing next to him, with a very young Earthling with long flowing blonde hair. He looked no older than an adolescent, but he emitted the same energy that this girl was giving off.

Then her captive grunted, and a mental wall suddenly burst up, shoving Haggar's mental probs off of her mind. The woman collapsed in a heap, breathing heavily and bracing herself shakily on her hands and knees as she struggled to stand.

"Interesting," Haggar muses as her gaze stayed on the girl a few moments longer before turning to her Emperor, "I wish to examine her. I dare to say this, but I believe we found something with greater potential than Voltron."

As C.C. raised her head to look defiantly up at her captors. The bubble of anxiety slowly morphing into an emotion she hadn't felt in a long time, one that spread down her spine and almost all the way to her toes.

Fear.

o~o

Lelouch winced slightly as he felt a small needle of pain pierce his skull, but it wasn't painful enough for him to cry out. He heard a gasp and a groan behind him, and as he turned, he saw that Rai and Shirley had similar expressions.

Something inside Lelouch turned cold. Whatever was happening to C.C., and probably Allura by extension, couldn't be good. They needed to move fast!

After shaking away the feeling, he turned to Team Voltron, "Eyes front. We've got a plan to get Allura and C.C. We're going to jump to the heart of the enemy, unseen and undetected."

"Wait, I thought we needed Allura to open up a wormhole," Milly asked, confused.

"It's true that Allura powers the Castle's ability to travel through wormholes. However, I think we have enough of her residual essence stored in the system to make one jump," Coran explained, as he and Lelouch turned to the bridge's main computer screen, the base and the planets surrounding it being pulled up. "We'll hide the Castle here, inside one of these giant gas planets in Zarkon's command system. The gas is so dense, we'll be hidden."

"From there, we'll use the Castle to scan for Allura and C.C. on Zarkon's ship. We'll form Voltron, find them, and get out before Zarkon knows what hit him," Lelouch finished explaining.

"There's only one hiccup," Coran confessed, turning back to the group. "We have enough energy to wormhole in, but, without Allura, we won't have enough energy to wormhole out."

"So leaving without the Princess isn't an option," Suzaku summed up.

"That's correct. Remember, we're not here to fight, though we will inevitably have to. This is a quick in-and-out mission. We are not going to drag things out here."

"Lelouch, no offense, but this is a far less complex plan compared to the ones you come up with on Earth," Kallen noted. "If we mess this up, we're basically handing Voltron over to Zarkon, gift-wrapped and with a bow on top."

Though she didn't mean to, her comment made most of the other Paladins squirm apprehensively. The reality of their situation was slowly unraveling in front of them, and it scared them all.

"I know there are risks, but either way," Lelouch said, as he turned around and walked towards this seat on the bridge. He opened a compartment on his armor's gauntlet, pressed some buttons, and then slammed his hand down on the gauntlet's inside. His uniform's color suddenly morphed. Gone was the white with black accented armor of the Black Paladin, and instead appeared the black and gold accented armor of the masked leader of the Black Knights. He picked up his helmet, which is where he always kept it by his side. He slipped the mask on his head and narrowed his eyes, "we're not leaving without them."

o~o

"Sire, allow me to send my fleet to protect the command system. I will stop Voltron before it can get close-" Prorok began, trying to petition his Emperor as he sat upon his throne along with all the other loyal Galran commanders. Zarkon interrupted him.

"You will do no such thing, Prorok," he ordered, "We will allow them inside our perimeter."

"Once in, they won't get out," Haggar sneered at his side.

"Ready all fleets," the Emperor commanded, "On this day, the Paladins will be destroyed, and I will have Voltron."

"Sire, if I may," Thace spoke up, "what if this Zero character appears? It's more than clear that he is working alongside the Paladins."

"He will be dealt with accordingly," Zarkon answered, clasping his hands together, "he's nothing but another nuisance to squash."

"Indeed. If Zero does show himself in this battle, your orders are to bring to me. Alive," Haggar ordered as her eyes narrowed menacingly.

o~o

"We're here," Zero announced, standing high and confidant at the front of the bridge, his Zero uniform, minus the cape, making him look even more so, as the Castle of Lions exited the wormhole and they hovered in their hiding place. Just as they predicted, the gas planet was so thick, the enemy hadn't detected their presence yet.

They hung around the very edge of the planet's cover and were able to see the base with their own eyes. Just like on the images, the base was enormous, and seeing it now, the uneasiness within the Paladins seemed to spike up another level. Shirley was the one that looked the most scared as she was literally shaking in her seat and almost hyperventilating. Though the other Paladins weren't showing as many outward signs, they were all nervous. Even Kallen had to swallow back some bile that unexpectedly worked its way up her throat. Suzaku felt sweat drops descend down his forehead.

"I'm detecting Allura and C.C.'s energy signatures. From this distance, the signals are pretty weak, but they're both somewhere in Zarkon's main ship," Coran tells them as he continues to type furiously on the main computer.

"That's a starting point," Suzaku mutters as he and the others look up at the main screen.

"Once we get closer, we'll be able to narrow down the location where the Princess is being held," Coran continued.

Shirley suddenly hurled off to the side, causing everyone to jump and look at the Orange Paladin in horror.

"I can't do this," she says as tears start to roll down her face as she clutched her hair into fists, "I'm sorry, I can't Lulu. We're practically entering hell right at the devil's doorstep."

Before Lelouch could reach out to calm Shirley down, Kallen beat him to it, "Shirley, it may not look like it, but I'm scared too. We all are. But we need to push forward. Allura and C.C. need us to do that. That's what it means to be both a Paladin and a Black Knight."

"You can do this, Shirley," Lelouch says, causing the Orange Paladin to look up at him. "I have faith in you. I have faith in all of you," he took a moment to look at each of his fellow Paladins, "We can do this."

Though it was short, Lelouch's speech put the entire team at a little bit of ease, and Shirley managed to pull herself together enough to draw a full breath.

"Alright, Voltron is going to come in fast and without warning. We'll smash our way into Zarkon's ship and grab C.C. and the Princess. Before they know what hit them, we'll have them back on the ship, and we'll be on our way."

o~o

The Lions roared out battle cries as they sprang out of the Castle hangars and into battle. Limbs shifted, and parts connected as the great warrior and Defender of the Universe came to life right before the enemy's eyes. The Paladins that piloted, all of them facing forward and determined to face the enemy head-on. The juggernaut blasted out of the gas planet and rocketed straight for the base.

o~o

"Emperor, we're detecting Voltron within our perimeter!" Prorok alerted Zarkon as they both stood on the main bridge.

"Engage the solar barrier immediately. Attack!" he ordered.

"Yes, Emperor," Prorok saluted.

Within moments, a dark barrier began to form around the entirety of Galra HQ, quickly locking any foes foolish enough to get in, or any from getting out.

"Thace, scramble the fighters!" Prorok ordered his second in command.

"Yes, commander."

From all over the base and the surrounding ships, hundreds of Galra fighters began swarming out of their launch bays, all of them en route and targeting a single enemy.

"Haggar, it is time," Zarkon said to his chief priestess. She, in turn, bowed to her master. It was finally time to reclaim Voltron.

o~o

As Voltron drew closer to the main base, the Paladins watched in apprehension as the violet barrier closed around.

"What is that?!" Rivalz asked, voice quaking.

"I don't know," Rai said, "but I hope once we get C.C. and the Princess, we can find a way out of here."

"Heads up, they're going to fire!" Suzaku shouted as dozens of Galra battleships set their sights on them and started firing their ion cannons relentlessly at their massive foe.

Lelouch grit his teeth and propelled themselves forward further, dodging around lasers and cannon shots. He and Kallen then pulled Aka's head back, and with all the force they could muster, slammed the Red Lion's head through one of the first cruisers. With their grip now steady on top, Zerith balancing them on the other side, Lelouch cried out, "Form sword!"

With a slam into the key port, Suzaku's Bayard flared to life as the giant sword they were all too familiar with blazed into form in front of them, inside the vessel. The sword now embedded inside, Voltron gripped the blade with both hands and propelled himself forward with his thrusters, the cruiser's surface cutting like butter underneath the mighty weapon. Within seconds, the sword exited the cruiser on the other side, and it blew up in an inferno of flames.

They didn't stop there. Building up as much speed as they could, they thrust the sword into the side of another cruiser, pushing it off course to the side. It built up enough, the cruiser eventually slammed into the ship next to it, and Voltron propelled through both. And the one after that as if they were made of cardboard. All three cruisers were destroyed in a matter of moments.

"More trouble, straight ahead!" Milly alerted as a wave of battle cruisers ahead had banded together and began firing rapidly at them.

The sword wouldn't do for this.

"Form bow and arrow!" Lelouch ordered.

Shirley, with a shout of her own, slammed her Bayard into the keyhole, and the sharp sword was immediately replaced with the sleek form of a bow, an arrow of energy already notched within it. With a single pullback of his arm, the arrow fired, dispersing into thousands of tiny energy beams, each hitting the Galra cruisers in rapid succession.

Once the barrier of cruisers vanished, the bow vanished to be replaced with the sword once more, and Voltron shot once more to its destination. Very few cruisers dared to stand in their way as the main base rapidly came closer and closer.

"There's Zarkon's ship!" Lelouch announced as the thrusters propelled them forward once more. As the main base nearly came within striking distance, right underneath it, Voltron pulled back his sword ready to strike.

But before they could do so, Voltron suddenly froze. Everyone gasped in shock. The sword flickered out of existence as they all wondered what was happening!

"What's going on?!" Rai exclaimed.

"We lost the sword! Something's malfunctioning!" Suzaku shouted.

"What's happening?!" Coran asked from the bridge of the Castle. He, too, watched in horror as Voltron froze in place.

"Somebody do something! Voltron's frozen up!" Rivalz cried as his face appeared on the Castle's screen.

"Lelouch!" Kallen exclaimed in a panic.

"I can't hold it!" The Black Paladin shouted as he felt an unknown pressure pressing down on top of him.

Unbeknownst to them, directly above them, Zarkon was beginning a plan of his own. The druids on all sides of the Emperor were pumping quintessence through his veins. He smirked darkly as his eyes shut for a moment.

"You're a fool to bring Voltron here," his eyes snapped back open to reveal a black symbol within his eyes. A symbol that was nearly identical to the one that rested within the eyes of the Black, Green, and Orange Paladins.

The Paladins all yelled in pain as the pressure from Lelouch's cockpit suddenly spread to all of them. They didn't just feel their own emotions, but of their Lions too. And whatever was happening right now, they were afraid. Zenobia, most of all.

In a flash of blue light, the Lions split apart from Voltron, all scattering to different areas of the battlefield.

"Wh-What just happened there?!" Shirley exclaimed, eyes wide in fright.

"Something tore us apart!" Milly said.

"I don't know, but we've got bigger problems right now. Look!" Rivalz pointed as nearly all of the Galra cruisers, and millions of fighters pouring from around the base began soaring towards them.

"Why do I have the feeling these guys knew we were coming?!" Kallen exclaimed.

Without another moment of hesitation, the Lions all sprang into action, charging head-on into the horde of Galra.

All except Lelouch and Zen.

The pressure that Lelouch felt earlier in Voltron intensified even more as malevolent violet energy seemed to engulf the Lion. The same power that was emanating from the bottom of the main base.

In the battle, Maeraka fired her beam at a Galra ship, causing it to blow up moments later as well as blind a few other fighters and a cruiser due to the light. Zerith wasn't too far behind as she and Rai fired a beam across the haul of another ship, leaving a burning trail in its wake, causing an explosion. Just as the vessel combusted, Rai directed Zerith away and back into the battle. Suzaku and Yoru put the suction ability to use, pulling in small Galra fighters and tearing them to pieces once they came within range.

Nearby Polaris and Rivalz fired off their ice beam upon and froze multiple Galra ships at once. Aka flew in from the left and fired off her own beam and shattered two of them, while Zinnia shattered one by head-butting into it. But moments later, she was shot with another blast from the enemy, causing her and Shirley to swerve off course before the Orange Paladin managed to regain control.

"Ah, there's no end to these guys!" Shirley exclaimed in despair as she saw another ship charging its ion cannon. Before it could fire, a large blue beam from above hit the cruiser first, setting it aflame.

Looking up, the Paladins were elated to see the Castle of Lions itself zooming into the battlefield.

"Coran attack! I've waited ten thousand years for this!" the advisor howled out a war cry as he charged in.

All of the Paladins burst into cheers at seeing some back-up. All but Lelouch, who remained silent, too concentrated on trying to fight off this building pressure, that seemed to be getting stronger by the minute as he and Zen were dragged closer and closer into the base.

Lelouch grit his teeth and groaned as he tried to get Zen to move. Preferably away from the base and into the battle. His Lion was silent, and no controls he pushed or pressed were doing anything to rouse her.

Within the midst of the fray, Kallen expertly destroyed two more Galra fighters flying in front of her. She and Aka weaved smoothly in and around explosions and other attacking ships. As her path of destruction led her close to the main base, Kallen called out to her leader.

"Lelouch! Are you okay?!"

"Something is overriding the controls!" Lelouch managed to grunt out, "Zen is not responding!" Before Lelouch could give anything more, he cried in pain as more of the intense pressure came down around him.

"Lelouch is in trouble! I'm going in!" Kallen exclaimed to the others as she dove towards the Black Lion.

From within Zen, Lelouch instinctively activated his Geass, not knowing if it would help, but knowing that something needed to be done. Surprisingly, the pressure lessened, only slightly though.

From above, Zarkon's eyes widened in minor surprise as he felt Lelouch's Geass activate. But…

"So, you wield that power as well," Lelouch's eyes widened and his head shot up as he heard the voice of the Emperor in his mind. But what really caused his blood to freeze in horror was what he said. He couldn't be implying- "No matter. Yours is nothing more than a feeble ember compared to mine."

Lelouch could only watch in horror as Zen's controls finally reactivated, but all of it was in Galra script, highlighted in blood red. The pressure in his head became overpowering as the inside of Zen's cockpit lit up, and Lelouch was shot backward.

Before Lelouch could truly comprehend what was happening, he felt himself tumbling out of Zenobia's mouth and into space. What frightened him more was that just as he was ejected, a symbol he was all too familiar with had flashed through his mind. The black Geass had overpowered his own entirely, no matter how hard he tried to press against it.

"Lulu!" Shirley exclaimed as she watched Lelouch continue to tumble through the air. She immediately tried to propel over to him, only for about twenty Galra fighters to ambush her from below. With a gasp, Shirley hoisted Zinnia up and flew off to the side to try and lose them.

Lelouch eventually managed to activate his jetpack to slow his descent. It didn't help much as moments later, the Black Paladin's back collided with the side of the base, causing the packs to get damaged. Lelouch managed to grab onto a small piece of the side to stop himself from floating away further, but now he was stuck. He looked up in terror as he watched Zen being drawn even closer to who he assumed was Zarkon himself.

"What do we do now, guys?" Rivalz exclaimed over the commlink, "Our plan isn't really working out as... well, planned!"

Lelouch grit his teeth, "I'm getting Zen back! The rest of you focus on finding C.C. and Allura!"

"I've identified their exact location!" Coran responded from the Castle, "Uploading the coordinates to you now. In the meantime, I'll provide covering fire from out here, all alone, against an entire fleet. So, yeah, do you mind hurrying?"

"My jetpack's damaged. I'll need to go through the ship," Lelouch said as he scanned around for any possible openings. He noticed the small outcropping that saved his life earlier and slowly glided towards it. Geass on, Lelouch channeled his lightning into his hand, almost like an electrical spear, and shoved it into the crack. With the little physical strength that he had, he lifted the metal open. He covered his mask as a burst of air followed before he promptly descended into the entrance.

o~o

Meanwhile, Kallen continued to weave Aka in and out of the laser of Galra ships everywhere, shooting off lasers of her own in the process.

"Guys, get the Princess without me, now!" Kallen shouted through the intercom.

"What?!" Suzaku exclaimed, eyes widening, "No, Kallen, it's too dangerous to go off on your own! What are you even doing?!"

"Whatever I can!" she gritted out as she and Aka shot like a rocket towards the underside of Zarkon's base, and slammed into Zen's unresponsive body. She knocked the Black Lion out of the path so hard, Zen went tumbling through space before landing on the surface of Zarkon's lower ship, the violet glow fading away.

o~o

Inside the base, Lelouch, or Zero to others, crouched at the end of one of the halls, waiting for two sentries to come around. But instead of waiting for them to pass, Lelouch leaped out with a battle cry and impaled both of them with his lightning infused fists.

Unlike other situations, he wasn't taking chances with being seen, he couldn't afford that right now.

As he continued to run down the dark hallway, Lelouch's mind began racing. Images of the battles he endured flashed through his mind. Confronting Sendak, him resisting his Geass, the mentioning of the druids, and Rai admitting the familiarity of them, and now this!

Lelouch almost stopped dead in his tracks as the dots finally connected.

"No… Zarkon has Geass?!"

o~o

The Emperor in question glared down at the Lions from above before shedding the heavy armor and cape that he always donned. The black Geass emblem glowed brightly within his pupils as he calmly let himself fall from the ritual platform above into open space below. He then activated his rocket boosters on his heels to shoot towards where Zen had landed.

As he landed in front of the Lion, Kallen was hovering close on the other side. Her eyes fell on the Galra, and she thought she felt a chill run down her spine, glaring daggers at him. She had a feeling she knew who that was, but she needed to confirm it.

"Who is that?" she asked Coran through the comlink, bringing up a video feed in the Castle.

As Coran looked at the screen, he gasped in horror, "It's Zarkon! Kallen, get out there, now! Zarkon's too powerful!"

Kallen wasn't listening, though. Once her suspicions were confirmed, only one goal made itself apparent, "This is my chance to put an end to the Galra Empire! I have to take it!"

Kallen thrust Aka's controls forward and dived down towards the Galra Leader, ready to fire a beam at Zarkon to end him.

"Kallen, don't!" Coran's cries fell on deaf ears as Aka's maw let loose a beam of light directly at the Emperor. The explosion that resulted almost convinced Kallen that she had actually gotten him, but something caught her eye that caused ice to curl in her stomach.

Zarkon had blocked the attack with what looked like a giant purple energy shield. Moments later, it dissipated, and Kallen could see a familiar object in Zarkon's clutches.

"Is that-Is that a Bayard?!"

"You may have a Lion," Zarkon said, holding the dark Bayard up to his chest, "but its power is weak in your fledgling hands."

The Bayard then glowed as a sword that seemed to be made of energy formed from it. Then with a single swing, Zarkon flung a wave of energy towards the Red Lion.

Still in shock from seeing the Bayard, the Black Bayard, in Zarkon's hands, Kallen would've been hit, had the Purple Lion not rammed into her, and pushed her out of the way. The shot barely missed Yoru as the two Lions spun in the air for a few moments before recovering.

All of the other Paladins heard the person Kallen was facing, and Suzaku rushed to help, being the closest one. "If we stop Zarkon right here and now, then this battle is over. Earth will be safe," he declared from his Lion as the two spun to face the Emperor once more, their Lions both growling in challenge.

Zarkon didn't even blink, "You cannot stop me. The Black Lion will finally be returned to its original Paladin."

o~o

Lelouch finally made it to what looked like one of the main hangars. He was out of breath and panting from running, but he was sure he was close to Zen now.

When he was about halfway across the hangar, the door behind him slammed shut, causing him to jump and turn in confusion.

"So," a voice behind him drawled, making the hair on his neck stand up, "you're the infamous Zero." He turned back around to see a hooded woman standing in the middle of the bay. She had long white hair and what looked like navy blue skin,

"You will answer my questions!" Lelouch ordered an eyehole opening in his helmet, and his Geass flashing as he caught the eye of the druid (what else could it be?) in front of him.

She seemed to grunt for a moment before she quickly dispelled the power that attempted to take her over. She then looked up, curiously at him, "How do you wield this power?"

Lelouch took a step back in shock. Just like with Sendak, his Geass hadn't worked, and he had made sure to make eye contact through his mask. It seemed his theory of the Galra and Geass being connected in some way was being confirmed even more as this woman seemed to show some familiarity with it.

The woman's eyes then seemed to widen before a contemplating smiled adorned her lips, "I see, that explains the woman. She granted you that power, didn't she?" Lelouch continued to stand frozen in front of her, "I wonder how many others she's granted it toward. No matter, I'll find out one way or another."

This seems to shake Lelouch out of his frozen stupor as he grit his teeth, Geass still flaring, and charged at the druid, hands flashing with electricity. Just as it looked like he was about to make contact, the druid disappeared and reappeared behind him, laughing. Lelouch turned and blasted behind him, only for her to vanish yet again. Then multitudes of the druid began to appear around him, all cackling with what he assumed was sick glee. He whipped his head from one end to the other, energy crackling in his palms. He was completely surrounded.

o~o

Back on in the battle, Rai and Zerith fired at an onslaught of fighters that came their way. Shirley was right. There was just no end to them at all!

The Green Paladin then gasped loudly, Zerith screeching to a halt. He felt something in the back of his mind. A presence. One that he knew, but knew he didn't at the exact same time.

'So, the Champion returns,' the voice seemed to purr in his head, and it certainly wasn't from his Lion.

Due to this latest episode, the Green Lion had left itself open for several fighters to fire. The only reason that Rai wasn't blown to pieces was due to the timely arrival of Milly, Rivalz, and Shirley, who shot all of them down before racing to Rai's side.

"Rai! Rai, dude, what's wrong!" Rivalz asked urgently.

"Are you okay?" Shirley questioned as well.

Rai quickly shook his head, but his eyes were wide with fear now, "We have to get out of here! Now!" he proclaimed, fear clearly present in his tone.

"We've finally managed to locate Allura and C.C," Milly reported, bringing up her tracking on their screens. "They're in this part of the ship." Her scanners showed a lower area of the main base.

"Okay, how do we get in?" Rivalz asked.

"I-I can try and hack one of the cargo bays," Rai stuttered, still recovering from the scare from earlier.

"No, we don't have time! Shirley, you'll just have to bust through!" Milly ordered.

"What?! Seriously?!" the Orange Paladin asked in shock.

"Just do it!" Milly shouted back.

"O-okay!" Shirley didn't question further as she thrust Zinnia forward, barrelling straight towards the coordinates that Milly passed to her.

o~o

From inside their cell, Allura and C.C. looked up in shock as they felt the area around them shake violently.

Outside, the head of the Orange Lion, crashed through the wall of the prison, the two sentries guarding their cell, raised their guns to the intruder, but Shirley was faster. As Zinnia's mouth opened, she fired one arrow at the first sentry, spun around and dodged a blast from the second one, before hitting it as well. To her pleasant surprise, those were the only two robots that were guarding the prison, at least in this area.

o~o

Up at the central command center, Thace's screen started beeping in alert. The Galra looked up to see that a part of the haul had been broken through.

"Sir, the hull's been breached. It's one of the Lions," he reported to Prorok.

"Focus fighters on that quadrant," the commander ordered. He would retrieve those Lions for his Emperor!

o~o

On the outside of the base, with the backside of the Orange Lion hanging out of the ship, the Green, Blue, and Yellow Lions surrounded it, guarding Zinnia and Shirley against attacks that would be coming from the hoard of fighters that was coming their way.

"Looks like we've got to cover Shirley's butt!" Rivalz shouted as he swerved Polaris around several fighter shots, gritting his teeth.

o~o

With her arrow, Shirley shot a hole through Allura and C.C.'s cell. As the Orange Paladin entered, she was relieved to see that neither woman looked too hurt.

"Shirley!" Allura gasped.

"Come on! Let's get out of here!" Shirley shouted, motioning to her newly made exit.

"What are you doing here?" Allura demanded, "Tell me you didn't bring Voltron straight to Zarkon's central command! Where's the Black Lion?"

Suddenly, from over their comlinks, they heard Lelouch yelp in pain as if he had been hit with something.

"Lelouch is in trouble!" C.C. exclaimed as she sprung and ran out of the cell. "We have to save him."

As Allura and Shirley ran behind her, Shirley felt pain of her own just behind her left eye. C.C. was right. Something was happening to Lelouch right at that moment.

"Shirley, did you get C.C. and the Princess?" Rai asked through their helmets.

"Yeah, but there's a change of plans," she replied, blinking rapidly, trying to disperse the throb.

o~o

Lelouch grunted as he attempted to blast one of the druid clones, but it quickly disappeared into the air.

"You're nothing but a child," she taunted from behind, "tampering with forces you can't even begin to understand."

With a shout, Lelouch spun around and punched the clone directly behind him, only to be hit with a powerful blast of her own, sending him flying across the room with a yell.

"You're only scratching the surface of the power that you possess," she hissed as a ball of energy appeared in her hand and fired in Lelouch's direction.

Gasping, Lelouch managed to narrowly roll out of the way, and chargee her again, seeing as the clones had vanished. He dodged two more blasts of energy that were shot at him. With a battle cry, he flung his arm forward, attempting to swipe at her again, only for her to vanish directly behind him.

With a sneer, she thrust her claw forward, her hands glowing with her magic, deeply scratched Lelouch's side. With a choked gasp, Lelouch collapsed, agony running up his body from the wound inflicted.

Her enemy incapacitated for the moment, him kneeling and clutching his glowing wound, Haggar wasted no time probing his mind for information. Lelouch grit his teeth and tried to fight back, but due to the fatigue of battle, her influence was too strong.

Small glimpses of his childhood back on Earth flash before his eyes, and he can only assume that the druid is seeing them as well. His mother's assassination, Nunnally comatose in a hospital bed, bandages wrapped around her head and legs. The confrontation with his father and his resulting banishment.

Then, another image flashes by, one that even causes Lelouch to freeze. It was the face of his father, Charles Zi Britannia, and a Geass of his own flashing in his eyes.

He felt his head being physically jerked back. The druid had grabbed onto his helmet, and he felt foreign energy seeping through the mask and into his mind. She was trying to rip in closer, get as much information as she could.

Lelouch groaned in anguish, but he grit his teeth. She'd already seen more than she needed. He'd push her back as best as he could. She wouldn't get anything else!

o~o

"This is insane!" Kallen shouted as she sent another blast in Zarkon's direction. She and Suzaku had been engaging the Emperor for nearly ten minutes, and it didn't seem like they were leaving a single dent on him.

The Purple Paladin himself doesn't say anything, but his thoughts are very similar to Kallen's as well.

Once again, Zarkon quickly blocked the blast with his Bayard like a rubber ball against a brick building.

"To think that fate would bring me to face these two Lions in battle once again. What a disappointment of Alfor and Melenor's legacy," Zarkon said.

Suzaku then tried to take the moment of distraction to try and crush Zarkon underneath him with Yoru, but Zarkon jumped out of the way, his Bayard morphing back into a sword once again.

Simultaneously, the two Paladins lunged their Lions forward, both of them racing upon the base surface, shooting lasers at the Emperor as he flew towards them at high speed. He easily dodged out of the way of all of them.

Just as Zarkon was about to hit them, Suzaku attempted to suck the Emperor in with the black hole function. Instead of being pulled in and finished off, though, the Emperor seemed to simply use it gain more momentum and sliced his blade right at the Lion, who immediately fell to the ground.

Suzaku groaned as he felt the impact. Okay, this was getting ridiculous!

"Suzaku! Move!" Kallen shouted from above. The Purple Paladin lifted his head in time to see Zarkon produce a huge cannon from the Bayard that was aimed directly at him!

With a grunt, Suzaku managed to sweep out of the way, just as the blast nearly grazed Yoru's shoulder. The shot didn't hit them, but Kallen and Suzaku both looked in horror as the blast easily sliced through one of the base's outer layers. Zarkon didn't even seem to care!

What kind of a monster were they facing?!

"Kallen, Suzaku, get out there!" Coran's voice echoed through the link again, sounding even more desperate now.

The two Paladins didn't have time to reply as Zarkon then flew into the air, the sword once again in hand, and attempted to dive-bomb them. They managed to jump out of the way, but the impact that Zarkon made caused a massive explosion as well.

Zarkon was literally tearing his own base apart just to get to the Black Lion!

"Do you copy? You don't know what you're dealing with! He's too powerful! Listen to me, it's imperative that neither of you engages the-" Coran's voice was cut off as the two Paladins simultaneously slammed the off button to the communication link. Both of the Lions readied themselves, blades appearing in their jaws as they both shot off and charged the Galra at full speed.

Zarkon was waiting for them, as he Bayard turned from a blade into a large metal whip that he threw towards them.

At first, the Lions were able to dodge around the weapon until Aka's leg got caught by it, and Zarkon slammed the Red Lion into the Purple Lion.

With both the Lions down once again, Zarkon's blade appeared once more, and he charged towards them, aiming to finally end the two Paladins at once.

"No…" Kallen groaned as she forced Aka to stand up with her own willpower. Suzaku, behind her, was still somewhat dazed from the attack and wasn't moving. As Kallen stood between Zarkon and her comrade, she took several deep breaths, her anger, and determination building with each one, before screaming out a battle cry.

At the same time, she felt something twist within her bond with Aka, and appearing on top of the Red Lion's back, was a giant cannon.

Seeing this development didn't slow Zarkon's descent towards them as the cannon charged up. With a flash, Aka unleashed a cannon blast so massive and powerful that it actually forced Zarkon to stop and block the attack. It even drove him back a couple of paces.

With a grunt of his own, Zarkon finally dove out of the way of the attack. The remaining power from the attack flew past him and hit the outer base once again, causing a large chunk of it to go up in flames.

Kallen stared wide-eyed at not only the destruction she seemingly caused from that single attack but also the fact that Zarkon had been able to block it! "Whoa!"

"Kallen! Come on!" Suzaku shouted as the two Lions ascended into the air once again. With the ray gun still activated on Aka's back, Kallen fired another shot at the Emperor. To her pleasant surprise, Zarkon actually flew out of the way of the attack instead of blocking it. It left a fiery trail behind the Emperor as a result.

Suzaku took that opportunity to try and dive bomb Zarkon again, but somehow, the Emperor anticipated this and sliced Suzaku out of the air once more.

"You fight like a Galra soldier," they heard the Emperor commented to the Red Paladin.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Kallen spat. She knew that out of all of the Paladins, even out of all the Black Knights, she was undoubtedly the most… battle-savvy for lack of a better term. But she knew for a fact that she was human. There was no way that she was related to the Galra, neither were any of the other Paladins for that matter… right?

"But not for long!" Zarkon proclaimed as Kallen watched him leap into the air, and with the Bayard transforming what could only be a giant club, beat Aka out of the air. She slammed back into the ground, right next to Suzaku with a gasp.

o~o

Allura, C.C., and Shirley all burst into the fighter hangar, all under the protection of Shirley's invisibility. They all stopped in their tracks when they saw Haggar bent over Lelouch's fallen form, her hand and the Black Paladin's body glowing a sickly purple.

Shirley immediately pulled out her Bayard and aimed it at the witch, "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" she shouted as released the single arrow that had been notched.

Her shout was the only thing that alerted Haggar to their presence and managed to let go of Lelouch and dodge the arrow just in time. She sneered before she teleported away.

With Haggar's hold on him gone, Lelouch collapsed back to the ground with a gasp, barely bracing himself on his hands so he wouldn't fall flat on his face.

"Lulu! We have to get out of here!" Shirley exclaimed, rushing over to the Black Paladin and helping him to his feet. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight of his wound, but they would have to deal with it later.

As the four of them left the hangar, C.C. couldn't help but stall just for a moment, her eyes trailing back to the spot that Haggar disappeared from. A chill ran up her spine. In all of her long life, she'd only met a few people that she would admit she was frightened of, and Haggar was only her latest addition.

The last time she had felt this way… was when she met V.V.

o~o

Yoru and Aka lay still on the surface of the base. Neither of them was moving despite their Paladins doing everything they could to get them to. Even a twitch would have been reassuring!

Above them, Zarkon's Bayard transformed once again. This time, it took the form of a giant spear, that the Emperor had aimed directly at the two Lions. With a burst of the jets on his legs, the Emperor charged towards them.

"Come on! Come on!" Kallen shouted from the cockpit, frantically pushing down levers and pressing buttons.

Suzaku, on the other hand, stopped. The moment he had seen Zarkon's Bayard flash, he had stopped struggling. And as the Emperor drew closer to finish them off, Suzaku's eyes closed. If this was how he died, at least it was fighting for something he believed in. Really believed in.

However, death would not be the case, as just moments before Zarkon could strike, a roar to his right drew his attention. His eyes widened as the Black and Orange Lions shot off attacks of their own, throwing the Emperor off in surprise, and saving Kallen and Suzaku.

Not even caring if his shot actually hurt, much less hit, Zarkon, Lelouch, with Shirley right behind him, flew down and scooped up the Red Lion in his jaws. Shirley did the same for the Purple Lion.

"We got you!" Lelouch shouted as the four of them flew back to the ship as fast as possible.

As the four lions returned to the bays, Zarkon watched from afar, his eyes boring into what was nearly his prize. He had been too focused on the battle with the Red and Purple Lion. He should've taken the Black Lion right then and there. However, this was only a minor annoyance. The Black Lion would be his once again, one way or another.

o~o

As Zen set Aka down within the Red Lion's bay, C.C. had to catch Lelouch was keeling forward and hitting his head on the console. The wound at his side pulsed darkly, causing him to gasp in pain.

From the Orange Lion's bay, Allura raced out of the Zinnia as Yoru was placed down next to her. She ran to the bridge and swiftly put her hands on top of the teludav pillars, the familiar blue glow washing over her.

"All right, Paladins, time to get out of here!" she announced as she attempted to open a wormhole. However, to her shock, no wormholes opened up.

"Hello? What's going on? I don't see a wormhole," Milly asked, her face appearing on the Castle's screen.

"The Galra barrier is jamming our ability to create one!" Coran exclaimed in a panic. They were trapped. Even though they had Allura back, there was still no way out. Nor was there a way for them to fight all of the Galra troops that were slowly closing in on them.

o~o

From inside the base, Prorok turned back to the lieutenant stationed behind him, "Send in everything we've got! Corner them!"

Prorok failed to notice the absence of one of his top subordinates.

o~o

The spy cautiously made his way done the hall, his Luxite blade clutched tightly in his hand. He approached the area of the energy barrier and ran into a sentry that was guarding the door.

The robot turned to him and addressed the Galra, "This sector is off-limits-"

Before the droid could say anything else, the spy jammed his blade into the sentry's neck, effectively destroying it as it collapsed to the ground.

Not wasting another moment, knowing that each one counted if Voltron was to escape, he entered the control room.

To his relief, there was only one other sentry stationed at the main control board, and he wasted no time stabbing his blade into the sentry's back. The robot collapsed onto the floor with a clunk.

He hurriedly entered his passcode into the computer, a lever uncovering itself in front of him. He grasped it and pulled down.

o~o

"They have us completely surrounded!" Coran cried just as the solar barrier around them suddenly shorted out, much to the Paladins' shock.

o~o

The spy let out a small sigh of relief as he watched the barrier successfully shut down.

Now just to get rid of the rest of the evidence.

Thace bent down and snatched his Luxite blade from the body of the sentry.

The job was done. Voltron was free.

o~o

"What just happened?" Rai asked.

"Who cares?! WORMHOLE!" Shirley practically screamed.

Not wasting this window of opportunity, Allura activated the teludav once more. This time a swirling wormhole appeared before the Castle. Allura directed the Castle towards it, failing to notice the danger that was erupting behind them.

With a shriek of anger and power, Haggar slammed her hands into the magic circle on her ledge of the Galra base. With a dark flash of light, a beam of black energy shot towards the Castle of Lions and the wormhole they were attempting to escape through.

The Castle wasn't hit directly, but the wormhole was not so lucky. As the energy was absorbed into the hole, the familiar blue of the walls twisted into dark, unstable maroon, static energy flashing across the field as they descended.

"Coran, what's happening?!" Lelouch shouted as he and C.C. felt the shaking from Zen's interior.

"The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised! It's breaking down!" the advisor shouted in fear.

"What does that mean?" Rivalz asked, gripping Polaris's controls.

"It means we have no control over where we're headed!" Coran exclaimed, just as a loud bang shook the Castle.

Before either Lelouch, Kallen, or even C.C. could react, the bang shook the Castle hard enough that it dislodged both Lions from the bay, causing the passengers to yell as they started spiraling out into the wormhole.

They weren't the only ones; the other five Lions soon followed, all being flung helplessly out of their bays, their Paladins in tow.

One by one, each Lion disappeared into the wormhole's wall. Their destination?

Unknown.

#Fanfiction #AU #Voltron #Code Geass #lelouch lamperouge #c.c.#kallen kozuki #suzaku kururugi #shirley fenette #rivalz cardemonde #rai (lost colors)#milly ashford #princess allura #coran #zarkon #galra empire #voltron lions

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naruwitch · 4 years

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Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 7: Some Assembly Required

All was quiet and peaceful in the Castle of Lions as the sun began to rise over the Arusian horizon slowly. No sign of the Galra anywhere and one of the few precious times to relax and process all that happened the day (days...? How exactly did time work in space?) before.

After dinner, the Paladins went to some halls aligned with several bedrooms on the side. It wasn't too far from two large bathrooms, which looked similar to the P.E. showers and locker rooms. One was for the girls and the other for the boys. The bedrooms mostly consisted of a single bed, a simple set of drawers, and a couple of other hidden compartments. From the sheer number of them, the Castle must have had a tremendous amount of servants and workers or hosted a large number of visitors reasonably often. They all decided to pick their rooms in the same hallway. Best to stick together after all. Lelouch's was the closest to the intersection leading off in other directions, with Rivalz, Shirley, Kallen, Rai, Milly, and finally Suzaku taking up the rooms past him in that order.

Shirley sighed as the warm water from the Altean shower streamed down her form. Despite the similarity of the locker rooms, the showers were just as fancy as the rest of the Castle. It took about fifteen minutes for her to make her way through the many buttons lining the shower wall. They varied from dumping flower petals to what smelled like some sort of lemon-lime juice that almost got in her eyes. That would have stung! Despite the confusion though, the Orange Paladin had to admit that the Princess had excellent taste in regards to hair products, taking her sweet time lathering her locks with the sweet vanilla smelling shampoo-

*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*

-Which promptly ended as a resounding shriek echoed through the bathroom, which was joined as one of her own tore through her throat, nearly causing to slip and fall on her face! She only managed to catch herself by bracing her legs on the sides of the stall.

o~o

Rivalz jumped in shock as he tumbled out of bed and tangled himself in his blanket. He struggled to get up for the door, only for the same blanket culprit to trip him by the feet and face plant on the hallway floor.

o~o

"Everybody up! Zarkon's attacking."

Suzaku looked up from mid-push-up, Paladin armor already adjourned, leaping to his feet and racing out the door.

o~o

Milly hummed as she shifted deeper into her cushions, Mozart ringing in her headphones, and a black charcoal face mask soaking up her pores.

o~o

Lelouch tsked and put done the datapad he was looking over. He could tell this wasn't a real attack even without looking at it, but he also was in no mood to get on a 10,000-year-old princess's wrong side.

o~o

"The castle's about to be destroyed!"

Kallen yelped as she all but threw on her turtleneck, snatched up her Bayard, and scrambled out into the hall.

o~o

"Go, go, go! We need Voltron now!"

Rai jumped, and almost hit his head against the cryo-pod he was dozing against, the laptop sliding off his legs. The Green Paladin hadn't even bothered to go to his room, wanting to question the prisoners they'd picked up the second he could.

But considering the urgency in Allura's voice, it would probably be a bad idea to stall any longer. Pushing himself up, he rushed out the door, Rover trailing behind him.

o~o

"Hurry! We can't survive much longer!"

"You've got to sell it a little bit more," Coran said, taking the device out of Allura's hands.

Clearing his throat, Coran wailed, "Oh no! Allura is dead! Oh, it's horrible! Her head fell off!" he collapsed to his knees, still very much in remorseful character, "A-! Wait! He-Her severed head is trying to speak to me! What is it Allura's head? What are your final words!?" Tears gathered in the advisor's eyes.

"Coran…"

"Oh yes, Princess, I'm listening!"

"It's over." she deadpanned.

Not even realizing what she meant, Coran continued and nearly dramatically collapsed onto the floor again, "Oh yes, I know! Augh! If only Voltron had been fooooorrmmmed."

Coran finally looked up, to see the very annoyed faces of the Paladins waiting for him to finish his soap opera. "Oh! TIME!" he shot up, accidentally tossing the com behind him in the process.

"Can I assume from the theatrics, that this isn't an actual attack?" Lelouch remarked, arms crossed, lips pulled back in an annoyed frown. The other present Paladins looked just as irked. Besides Suzaku, Lelouch was the only one in full uniform and guessing from the state of Kallen's shirt; she had just been getting dressed when the alarms went off. But she had been wise enough to bring her Bayard in her rush.

On the other hand, Rai and Rivalz still looked half-asleep, the former in his casual dark blue shirt, grey jacket, and black jeans, the later only in his pajamas. Shirley was shivering and blushing cherry red in embarrassment. The only garment of clothing she wore was her orange bathrobe with a towel wrapping up her soaking wet, shampoo-filled hair.

Allura didn't seem to notice the annoyance as she stared sternly at them. "And it's a good thing it wasn't because it took you- Coran?"

"Seventy-five degrees," he answered. Allura blinked. That wasn't a time slice. Coran seemed to notice too, as he registered the device he was holding in his hand, "Oh! Sorry! No, this is a meat thermometer."

Allura sighed in annoyance, "However long it was; it was too long! You must always be ready to battle against Zarkon. Look at you! Only Lelouch and Suzaku are in uniform, and at least Kallen brought her Bayard! Rai, Rivalz, Shirley, where are your Bayards? And where's Milly?"

As if on cue, the Yellow Paladin came strolling through the door, sporting cute lion-headed slippers, pajamas, and bathrobe, holding a cup of tea in her hand. Her hair was already styled in her signature curls, and her face smooth and pimple free. "Good 'meow'ning everybody!" she greeted with a small yawn, "What's going on?"

"Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order," Allura explained tartly, "We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well." The princess glared daggers at Milly while folding her arms behind her back, "Guess which one failed?"

"Well, you could've given at least a day to process all that's happened!" Shirley blurted out, still flabbergasted from having her shower interrupted.

"Yeah, what Shirley said!" Rivalz agreed, "You-" he yawned, "you got to sleep for ten thousand years! Monday, we were ordinary school kids on Earth, and since then, a magic lion has flown us through space, we've fought some evil alien named Zarkon, and eaten goo in some weird sci-fi castle. that's a lot to process in, um, I don't know what day is it today?"

"It the third quintant of the spicolian movement. Hump day!" Coran cheerfully replied.

'Wednesday,' everyone thought in astonishment. They'd been missing from Earth for two days already!?

"What Rivalz means to say is that this is simply a lot of process for only a couple of days," Lelouch stated in slight annoyance. Though the prince himself had many experiences with only days to process, this was a bit much as well.

Allura sighed again, not in annoyance this time, but more out of concern and fatigue.

"You must understand the stakes of our mission," a holopad appear by her head and pushed a few buttons on the screen. "Over the last ten thousand years, the Castle has picked up distress beacons from the following locations," the screen disappeared to reveal the star map from their first day. Instead of blue planets, stars, and comets, however, ominous red glows covered almost all of them with a few still blue ones in the outer edges of the holograms. "So we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe," she swiped her hand to the right towards the more blue area. She stopped on a small bright solar system only about a foot or two from the red border. "Earth is here, an attack on your planet is inevitable."

"Oh, no!" Shirley gasped in horror, similar expressions plastered on the other paladins' faces.

"Exactly," the princess nodded as the holomap pixelated out, "our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so that we can begin fighting Zarkon."

"The princess is right," Suzaku said, turning to Lelouch, who nodded, "let's get to the Lions and start training."

"Wait!" Rai protested, "But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship."

"Ah, negative Number One-I have you all ranked by height, okay?" he missed the slight wince Kallen and Lelouch gave at the proclamation. "The prisoners need to remain the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow."

"That's right. Now, get to your lions." Allura ordered.

"Uh, hold on!" Rivalz piped up, "What exactly are we going to be doing in them? We're not gonna be shooting at each other, are we?"

"Yeah," Shirley said, trying to tighten her robe to preserve her modesty, "Unlike most of you, we've never even stepped foot in a Knightmare, so how's this supposed to work?"

"GUTS!" Milly suddenly shouted, making Coran and even Allura jump.

"The 'Guts' spell again, Prez?" Kallen asked in annoyance.

"Yep! We may not be in Student Council anymore, but Allura does mean well, we'll never figure out how to work the Lions if we don't practice!"

"Spell?" Coran asked inquisitively, "I did not know that humans were capable so such feats."

"It's just something Prez has done to try to motivate us; it's not real magic per se," Suzaku tried to explain.

"Actually!" Rai grinned, "It's got me going already, Milly!"

"Subtle and willing, that's what I like to see!"

"Very well, now that you're all motivated, get moving!" Allura ordered, pleased to see that some of them were willing to take charge.

"That's not exactly what I was going for Princess," Milly suddenly smirked. The hair on the back of Shirley and Kallen's neck stood on end.

'Why do I have a bad feeling about this?' the Red Paladin asked.

"You're a ten," Allura blinked in confusion. What on Alaaran did that have to do with anything? Then she followed where Milly's eyes were looking. "At least at first glance. For someone who's over ten thousand years old, you're filling out in all the right places, aren't you, Princess?"

Shirley and Kallen turned beet red while Rai and Rivalz struggled to hold back laughter. Lelouch could only pinch the bridge of his nose while Suzaku shared an equally mortified look with Allura.

"Why you-!"

"I am being left out of something?"

Allura's confounded response was interrupted when C.C. trudged into the room — adorned in her straight jacket that she had been wearing the previous day. Lelouch made a mental note to ask Allura for some extra clothes for her. The mysterious woman had been quiet the last day, not even going through the trouble to bother Lelouch before bed. Come to think of it, Lelouch wasn't even sure where C.C. had decided to sleep.

'I guess even immortal witches need time to process chains of events.' Lelouch concluded.

"Besides questioning prisoners," Suzaku said, turning his attention back to Lelouch again, "you still need to explain to us who she is and what she's doing here."

"You do realize I'm still in the room, right?" C.C. asked, now leaning against the wall.

"Yes, I know Suzaku," Lelouch exhaled, "but that'll have to wait. All of you, to your lions now... After, of course, you've changed Shirley," giving a sympathetic look at the Orange Paladin, who only blushed harder in embarrassment.

"No need for that!" Coran said, "once you step through the elevators leading to your lion's hangers, if not dressed in it already, you'll be dressed in your uniform automatically!"

"Okay, uh, handy!" Shirley squeaked. The thought of being dressed automatically like that made her skin crawl for some reason, but a magic alien castle. Who knew?

"Enough," Lelouch said in finality, "to the Lions, now!"

The Paladins each marched into the elevators positioned conveniently next to their color-coded seats. Except for Lelouch. His lift was in the center of the bridge. Lowering the Paladins (all now fully clothed just as Coran said, much to Shirley's relief) down, it took about 10 seconds until an opening appeared, revealing a zip line. They zoomed through a brightly colored tunnel for each respected lion and paladin. The zip line by far was a new experience for all the Earthlings. They'd heard of a couple of famous and fantastic zip lines back on Earth. Some that came to mind were in the continent that used to be known as South America before Britannia took it over and split it into different areas to govern. Ones that zipped through leafy treetops and colorful birds and other wild beasts roamed freely. Some of them lasted for several long minutes with only the wind in your hair, and the green scenery flitting past.

Once the zip line ended, they dropped down through a hatch and into what appeared to be a single-personed motorbike, which drove them up to another elevator specifically large enough for it. The Paladins were lifted up until the bikes themselves disappeared into the chests and lower compartments of each lion. It soon wasn't long until the Lions let out a mighty roar and darted out into the courtyard of the castle.

"Alright Paladins," Lelouch's commanding voice echoed in the comms, "we'll fly in tight formation until we're completely in sync."

Allura's smiling face appeared on the screen within each Lion. "Feel the bond with your lions and your fellow pilots until seven become one unit, and you form Voltron!"

"YEAH!" everyone shouted as their lions leaped into the sky, the same formation as they when they first formed Voltron.

Nothing.

"Yeah!" they shouted again as they swooped back around, trying to connect with the Lions… somehow.

Nothing.

Thirty minutes later.

"...Yay…," less than enthusiastic replies followed. The Lions slowed until they came at last to a distal stop.

"Woooo…. Am I the only one who's still pretending to be excited?" Rivalz asked. None answered as mirrored expressions of frustrations and scowls of annoyance presented themselves on each of the Paladins.

"This isn't working," Lelouch admitted, "Let's set down for a little bit."

"Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up." Suzaku suddenly suggested.

"What do you mean?" asked Rai, not quite following Suzaku's train of thought. Wasn't that what they were trying to do?

"I mean, let's try literally building Voltron, like, stacking on top of each other."

"What? Like one of those cliche cheerleader pyramids?" Kallen scoffed. That was a ridiculous idea! What even made the Purple Paladin come up with that?

"Well, if you've got a better idea, Kallen, I'm all ears," Suzaku shot back.

Lelouch sighed. He thought the idea was ridiculous too, but he honestly couldn't think of another thing that they could try. They'd been flying around the Arusian plain for almost an hour, or varga as the Alteans called it. The answer couldn't possibly be that simple.

"Fine! We can give it a try," he consented.

The Paladins quickly moved into a position to try and 'build' Voltron. And it seemed to work. Except...

"Rivalz, what are you doing?" Lelouch asked incredulously.

"What do you mean?" the Blue Paladin replied.

"Rivalz Cardemonde, you're supposed to be the lower leg! Down here!" Milly scolded from almost the bottom of the pile. Currently, Suzaku and Shirley were standing side by side. Then Kallen and Milly were on top of them, Rai and the Green Lion perched on top of the Yellow Lion, and the Black Lion semi on top of the Red and Green Lions. And Rivalz... had the Blue Lion parked on top of the Black Lion's wings.

"What?" Rivalz asked, surprised and confused, "No. No, no, no. I'm pretty sure when we did it last time I was the head. Right?"

"You yelled, 'I'm a leg!'" Shirley reminded him.

"Yeah, last I checked we all were yelling a lot of things!"

"Lelouch is the head," Kallen stated a little aggressively. 'Stinkin' Britannians!'

"All the time?" Rivalz almost whined.

Lelouch let out another sigh, "Let's just try it my way for now!"

Rivalz pouted in defeat, "Okay, but next time I call head!"

The Lions quickly shifted into the correct positions as Lelouch slowly lowered the Black Lion down. Rivalz and Shirley were at the bottom, with Milly and Suzaku on top of them, Kallen and Rai over them, and Black on top.

"Okay. Arms and legs, and I'll form the head." Lelouch instructed himself. He set the Black Lion gently on top of the pyramid. Lelouch blew out, "All right, feel the bonds with your lions. Now, channel your energy into forming Voltron. Focus. Focus."

Two minutes later.

"Is everyone bonding and focusing?" Lelouch asked as the Lions had not moved once from their spot in the plane.

Kallen growled in frustration, "Why did this seem so much easier before?!"

"For some reason, I figured this would be more like piloting the Knightmares," Suzaku commented, "but… guess not."

Lelouch breathed out a sigh, "Let's take a break," He needed some time to think about this. Kallen did have a point; it was a lot easier to form Voltron yesterday. Could it have been part of the adrenaline rush and the imminent danger?

His train of thought was cut short though when Allura's face appeared on their dashes again. "Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help. Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle."

Lelouch blinked as that was what he had been thinking. The other Paladins all replied in agreement with the concept. The attack had indeed forced them to have to work together and to believe as one being. Practically an extreme example of the fight or flight method. But… something in his gut suddenly plummeted as well. It was a similar feeling he got when Milly was about to spring some completely outlandish scheme onto them.

"Perfect," the Princess smiled as she pushed a few more keys and buttons on the castle's screen, "Because I need to run a diagnostic test on all the Castle's defenses. This should help!"

Lelouch's suspicions were confirmed as the shield sprang to life on the Castle, and then started shooting blue lasers at them!

"RUN!" Lelouch shouted just as the first lasers hit the field. Clouds of fire and smoke enveloped them as the Lions took off in all directions, frantically dodging the blasts.

"Princess! What are you doing?!" Suzaku shouted.

"Running a diagnostic test on the Castle's defenses," Allura casually answered as if endangering the only hope to the universe was normal for her, "and inspiring you! I believe in you Paladins! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!"

"Nevermind! I'll take Milly's schemes any time!" Shirley screamed.

"Forget this!" Rivalz exclaimed, "I'm heading back to the Castle!"

"Rivalz, wait!" Kallen called as the Blue Lion bounded up the hill to escape. Upon leaping to the barrier, Rivalz was met with surprise as his lion bounced off it and tumbled back down.

"Princess!" Milly screamed, "Shouldn't you be using a more practical method of inspiration?"

"You think Zarkon's going to be 'practical' with you?" Allura chastised the Yellow Paladin harshly, "He's probably on his way here right now to destroy us all!"

With that final word, the Princess pressed a button on the screen. All seven of the colored dots gained four dark blue arrows pointing at them.

"Auto-lock-on engaged," Allura then left the bridge as the screaming Paladins struggled to survive the new onslaught of 'friendly fire.'

o~o

"You've returned early," a booming voice observed from the main throne room, "Did you complete your mission?"

A trembling Galran soldier knelt before the throne. "Sir, the moon's crust became unstable." he explained with a bowed head, "Staying any longer would have cost half my crew."

Zarkon's scowl didn't leave his face, and only seemed to grow darker, "Hmm, perhaps, but the half that survived would have been stronger."

The commander looked up slightly in shock, "Weakness is an infection, better to cut it off, then let it spread."

The commander blinked. What was the emperor referring to? Two metal arms suddenly seized him and started dragging him from the room, terror filling his eyes.

Not even blinking as the commander was dragged off, Zarkon turned his attention to the woman next to him. "What have you and your druids come up with to capture Voltron?"

"I have been working on perfecting something. Something that will strike fear into the hearts of any that stand against it. Voltron may have surprised Sendak, but he will not be able to overcome my creation."

o~o

"Are we at full power on condenser number five yet?" Allura questioned Coran as the two of them entered the small lounge, both carrying small devices to monitor the Castle maintenance.

"No," Coran sighed, "still just at eighty-four percent."

Allura looked up and was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the Paladins were laid out upon the benches. If they were inside that had to mean-!

"You did it! You formed Voltron!"

"No," Kallen sighed, "The shooting stopped, and the particle barrier shut down, so we just flew in."

The smile on Allura's face vanished, a scowl now in its place, "What?!"

Coran smiled awkwardly, "Oh right, uh, sorry, Princess, I had to turn off the Castle defenses to test the fire suppressors."

"Considering we were fighting for our lives outside," Lelouch commented, walking in with Suzaku, "we issued a small mental break to recover."

"We know you want us to be training Princess," Suzaku added, "but we're not Alteans. We don't understand the Lions as you appear to."

"Yeah, and when are we going back to Earth?" Rivalz asked, almost desperately.

"I'm not going back until I find my family!" Rai declared cold blue eyes narrowed.

"Did it occur to you that there won't be an Earth to return to until Zarkon is defeated?!" Allura demanded.

"We do understand that!" Shirley protested, looking close to tears with frustration and pressure, "But how do you expect us to do this if we can't even form Voltron?!"

"Well, I'm not surprised," Coran said, a thoughtful expression on his face, "You know, the original Paladins fought hundreds of battles together, side-by-side. They were like a pack of yalmors linked at the ears," he pretended to pull at his mustache to demonstrate.

"Normally, that would be us…" Milly admitted as she flopped down on her back, "But considering the events as of late, all of us are off our game lately."

"During the last attack, your survival instincts forced you to work as a team," the advisor continued, "but that will only get you so far. You'll have to become a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and then beating Zarkon next time. You should try working out on the training deck."

This peaked Suzaku's attention, "There's a training deck?"

o~o

Haggar moved gracefully and with purpose down the hall. She was confident that with the inexperience of the new paladins that her creation would crush them into nothingness. But for this project to come to fruition, she needed some… assistance.

A dark cell door at the end of the hall hissed open as four of her faithful Druids stood guard. Her glowing yellow eyes gazed at the large, boisterous creature in the cell.

"I think I have the opportunity you've been waiting for. How would you like to get your revenge against the Champion?"

Yellow eyes almost identical to her own narrowed in delight before stepping forward. An array of razor teeth shone behind a sinister smile.

o~o

"Two, two, one, two," Coran mumbled after clearing his throat. He was standing in what appeared to be an observation tower, shielded with a thick panel of glass. A Bluetooth-like device with a microphone was attached to his left ear. "Okay, listen up, everyone! The Paladin Code demands that you put your team members' safety above your own."

Coran's voice echoed through the training deck. The seven Paladins were facing outward, away from the others. The training deck's color was similar to the rest of the Castle, consisting of bright blue lights with white and black metal paneling.

"A swarm of drones is about to attack," Coran informed them as a hiss issued from above them. Looking toward it, they saw that a bunch of circular white robots was gliding towards them. It reminded Rivalz vaguely of the drone that Luke Skywalker trained his lightsaber with, in the fourth Star Wars movie. They began to circle them, surrounded.

Kallen, Suzaku, Rai, Milly, and Lelouch all shifted into defensive stances, their blue shields springing to life. Shirley and Rivalz were a little slower but soon followed.

"Get ready," Lelouch ordered, right before the first drone fired right at Shirley's head.

With a gasp of panic, she ducked, covering her head. The blast flew over her, but ended up hitting Rivalz square in the back!

Before the Blue Paladin could even discern what had happened, the floor opened up underneath him, before he fell into it with a shout of alarm.

"Protect your teammate!" Coran ordered again, "Or no one will be there to protect you!" As he said this, another shot hit Shirley in the shoulder, and with a shriek, she fell through the floor as well.

Gritting their teeth, the five remaining Paladins found themselves back to back, shields practically in front of their faces. So far, it seemed to be working though, no blasts hit anyone, the shields efficiently absorbing them.

"Time to increase intensity," Coran commanded as the drones began to spin so fast it became a blur. More shots were firing at rapid speed as everyone struggled to block them.

"You keeping up over there, everyone?" Rai asked with a slightly cocky smirk.

"Just focus on keeping us safe!" Kallen barked back.

"Quit talking and focus," Milly yelled, gritting her teeth, pulling the shield closer still.

The drones then lowered and began shooting at their legs. Most of the Paladins were able to kneel in time, but one shot a very low blast which would've hit Rai's leg, had the Green Paladin not lifted his leg to dodge in his quick moment of panic… which ended up hitting Milly in the back, where she disappeared with a shriek through the floor. Still caught in his shocked stupor, Rai didn't have time to block as another shot hit him in the stomach.

"Rai!" Suzaku yelled, looking behind as the boy fell through. This moment of weakness cost him as another drone shot him right in the forehead, where he crashed into Kallen! After the Red Paladin fell square eagle on her stomach, they both fell through the floor.

Lelouch's eyes widened as he saw that he was now alone. It didn't last long as a shot hit his hand that was holding the shield with enough force to skid backward. And just like with the others, the former prince was joined with the floor.

Coran groaned as he rubbed his forehead. Some of these humans claimed that they were military, but that was anything but military from what he could see. Whatever 'military' experience they claimed to have must be something much different from Altea-

"You know-"

"Yaaaeerrrggg!" Coran shot two feet in the air against the window as a shriek escaped his lips, clutching his chest and gasping for air as C.C. ('How does she sneak around so QUIETLY?!') made her presence known on the control deck. The green-haired human(?) had a playful smirk on her face and looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Madam!" he seethed as he mustache bristled in fury and embarrassment, "Quit doing that!"

"Doing what?" C.C. asked innocently, cocking her head slightly like a curious toddler.

The Altean huffed as the Paladins were all slowly brought back up to the surface.

"As I was saying," C.C. continued, walking up to stand next to him, "if this were real combat, a couple of them would still be standing. Foot, hand, and shoulder shots aren't necessarily fatal unless hit in a specific location, like an artery or vein. The head, back, and stomach I'd understand. But if this were real life, I believe at least Shirley and Lelouch would still be fighting. Also, considering Suzaku's 'corpse,'" she made quotation signs with her hands to prove her point, "fell on top of Kallen, resulting in her falling with him, we'd still have three Paladins standing. Injured, but standing."

Coran stroked his mustache as he saw the logic of C.C.'s reasoning. Hitting a few buttons on the deck, he began instructing them again.

"Alright, Paladins! Let's try again! This time the floor is programmed to open if the blast hits a vital area. If your arm or leg is hit, you can still technically defend yourself and your team. For example…"

One of the drones blasted an unaware Rai in the shin. The Green Paladin yelped as the shocking pain swelled up his leg. He was able to hop on the other for a couple of seconds before tipping backward, bracing himself for the floor to open up and swallow him… but nothing happened.

"Huh?" a confused gasp before registering he was still on the surface, "Nothing happ-" he attempted to rise up but lost balance again when his leg refused to budge. "What the?! My leg!"

"Afraid you lost your limb Number One!" Coran informed, as Suzaku ran over and slung his arm over his shoulder, "you'd have to make do without it if this was a real fight."

Rai grumbled as the numbness soon dissipated, shaking his now working leg of the pins and needles.

"Alright, everyone, shields at the ready!"

o~o

Now for the record, the last sequence went a little better than the first one. Almost immediately, the team clustered together, shields up, and determined to protect their section of the circle. But as shots continued to fly and small mistakes were made, the formation crumble. This time it was Lelouch that fell first, suffering a blow to the head, jerking forward and tumbling headfirst through the floor. After that, though, it wasn't long before the others joined him.

From what Coran could tell, the team seemed to be relying heavily on the Black Paladin as their foundation. While he admired the trust they appeared to have for Lelouch, in other circumstances, this might not be the best case. They would have to learn to rely on not just their leader, but each other as well. There would be situations where Lelouch would be either out of commission due to injury or otherwise.

Hence the reasoning for the next exercise.

Kallen was standing in the middle of the training deck, surrounded by a vast transparent maze, which soon flickered out of existence. Or so she believed.

"To form Voltron, you must trust in each other. This ancient Paladin maze will teach you that trust. Your teammate can see the walls, but you can not. So, listen carefully, if you touch the walls, you'll get a slight shock."

Kallen took a deep breath as she placed her helmet on her head. For some reason, she wasn't looking forward to this exercise. Maybe it was all the practice she'd had of feigning her identity, but she didn't trust most people at all.

"Okay," she sighed, "who is guiding me through?"

"Take two steps forward," Suzaku's voice rang over the comm.

She growled a little, why was she always partnered with Suzaku?!

Coran seemed to have noticed the hostile expression and spoke up, "Now, just sit tight. You'll get your turn."

"As I said, Kallen, take two steps forward, turn right, and take three steps in that direction," Suzaku repeated.

With a huff of annoyance, Kallen took a step forward-

"GAH!" she cried as the wall she hit electrocuted her, "What the quiznack Kururugi?!"

"Kallen, you're not listening to me!" Suzaku said in an exasperated tone.

"You said 'turn right'!" she shot back,

"But before that," Suzaku corrected in a tone he hoped sounded calm, "I said 'Take two steps forward.'"

The Red Paladin growled in frustration, why did this seem more natural when Zero was giving orders back home? "Two steps-" she screamed again as she hit the wall again.

"WE'RE SWITCHING PLACES! NOW!"

o~o

Despite the small hiccup with Kallen and Suzaku, most of the other Paladins made it through the maze with little trouble, much to Coran's relief.

Now the Paladins were back in their lions and soaring through the atmosphere of Arus in tight formation. The Black Lion in the front, the Red, Yellow, and Blue Lions to the right of it, and the Green, Purple, and Orange Lions to the left.

"You'll never be able to form Voltron unless each of you has a strong bond with your Lion," Coran instructed from down in the castle.

Rivalz grins proudly, "No problem! Me and Blue and are best buds for life, for real!"

"Perfect!" Coran said, "Then you should have no issues with this exercise. Everyone, put your Lions into a nosedive!"

With almost excited growls, the seven Lions dove towards the ground at the speed of a bullet.

"This is an expert-level drill that you really shouldn't attempt until you've been flying for years, but uh, we're in a bit of a rush, so here we go. Activating training helmets," Coran says as another screen pops up with a button that he promptly pushes.

Simultaneously, the Paladins' helmets all went dark. They couldn't even see their hands in front of their faces. Yelps and gasps from all the Paladins resulted.

"Coran, what's happening?!" Shirley screamed.

"I can't see!" Rai yelled.

"You must learn to see through your Lion's eyes. The goal is to pull up right before you crash into the ground. Feel what the Lion feels!" Despite the instruction, most of the Paladins had the same thought rolling through their heads: 'ARE. YOU. CRAZY?!'

Shirley was the first to pull out. Heart pounding so hard she could barely breathe, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Mine feels scared!" she whimpered as she pulled back on the handlebars and slammed on the pedals. The Orange Lion pulled out of formation.

The Blue and Yellow Lions were neck and neck as they continued to charge for the ground.

"You still going, Milly?" Rivalz asked a confidant, but a slightly flirty smirk on his face.

"You know it!" she replied, eyes focused, trying to connect to the Lion, "You?"

"Going? I'm speeding up!" Rivalz challenged as he hurled the handle forward.

Milly raised her eyebrows in amusement, mimicking him, "Oh yeah?"

The two lions rapidly picked up speed as the ground began to get dangerously closer. Due to the Blue Lion being slightly slimmer than the Yellow Lion, Rivalz held the lead by nearly an inch.

"Must be getting close," Rivalz remarked friskily.

"Must be!" Milly replied, smirking almost evilly, "What's wrong? Scared?"

Rivalz mouth dropped, "I'm not scared-!"

The Blue Paladin didn't have more time to protest further as he was almost knocked out of his seat as both he Milly crashed into the dune below, burying them waist-deep, head first!

They both groaned from the impact as the Blue Lion ungracefully tumbled out back down the hill.

"I… win…" Rivalz muttered, his head still spinning. Maybe that wasn't the best idea, after all.

"What was that noise?" Rai asked, alarmed, "Did they crash?!"

Pulse fluctuating, Rai pulled back on the controls, promptly ending the nosedive. The good news was that he didn't entirely crash but unfortunately didn't pull up quite fast enough, and nicked the side of the rocky canyon, taking a good chunk out of it.

Lelouch, Kallen, and Suzaku were the only ones left still participating in the exercise. The three pilots were perfectly calm, eyes closed, and focused. Recalling the sensation they felt when they connected with their lions the other day, they concentrated on reviving the same feeling.

Their eyes then opened, Lelouch's Geass flashing in his left retina. There it was, the simultaneous chill and warmth coursing through them as they felt their consciousness dip into a terrain they never knew existed. The loud purrs of their Lions pulsed through their veins, as they felt their presence overshadow them like a blanket or cape, their souls uniting and lining up with their own.

In a flash of gold, the world appeared before their eyes, racing past them as they continued to dive towards the surface. None of them seemed too concerned about it, though. Flawlessly, as if they had been flying for years, they activated their thrusters, just seconds before they collided with the soil. The thrusters propelled them forward across the plain, dodging over rocks and arches, and riding over dips and hills. They were flying them while their eyes were still closed!

"I think I'm getting this," Lelouch said.

"This is… amazing!" Kallen muttered.

"That wasn't too difficult," Suzaku smirked.

"Lelouch, Kallen, Suzaku, excellent!" Coran praised as they glided back towards the sky.

o~o

After everyone returned to the Castle and recovered from the flight exercise, the Paladins found themselves in the training room once again. This time, the Paladins were sitting in a circle, legs crossed, hands in their lap, and eyes closed. On their heads was a piece of fancy headgear, with blue lights probing their temples and in the middle of their foreheads.

"Now, the most important part of Paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron." Coran calmly instructed in a soothing tone, sounding almost like a yoga instructor.

As the Paladins focused, small screens appeared in front of each of their faces, portraying different things.

Rivalz's showed an image of downtown Area 11 near where he worked.

"Everything else has to fade away."

Milly's showed Ashford Academy's Clubhouse.

"This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron."

Shirley's was the Academy pool.

"So, relax and open your mind."

Suzaku's was an image of a pretty girl with light purple eyes and long pink hair that past her waist, partially in two buns and circles. She was wearing a white and green blouse with an orange skirt and red flats.

"No walls."

Rai had a picture of his favorite park in Area 11.

"No secrets between Paladins."

Kallen's had a picture of her in a yellow tank top and brown shorts, holding some sodas in her hands. She was smiling next to a boy with short auburn hair wearing a red headband, a black shirt, red jacket, and grey jeans. Next to him was another man with curly greyish-brown hair, wearing a light pink shirt and khaki pants, with a light blue towel draped over his shoulders. The picture, though, was hard to make out as it kept glitching.

"Come on, everyone, clear everything."

Finally, Lelouch's showed a young, beautiful girl with long, wavy, light brown hair, eyes closed, wearing a simple green and white dress. She had a lovely, innocent smile on her face and was sitting in a comfortable looking, power-operated wheelchair. A small, barely noticeable tear trailed down the ex-prince's face.

"Now, focus on forming your lion."

The images glitched out until they formed small three-dimensional pictures of the robots in front of them.

"Bring your lions together and- and form Voltron." All the Lions slowly started making their way towards the center of the circle.

"Keep your minds open; work together."

They were almost there, pieces beginning to mold together…

"Good! Keep focusing!"

Well… all except for one.

"Kallen!" Suzaku barked, peeved, "stopping thinking about your boyfriend!"

"I wasn't!" Kallen growled eyebrows arched down in anger, all the images flashing out of existence, "Shirley was rooting around in my head!"

'And for the record,' she added mentally, secretly deeply offended, 'that was not my boyfriend!'

"I-I thought we were open," Shirley hesitantly argued, "you can look in my head hole."

"Everyone has to able to look in everyone's head holes!" Coran reminded sternly from the observation deck above, "Clear your minds!"

Sighing in resignation, Kallen closed her eyes, and this time, the Red Lion's image materialized before her along with the other Lions with the other Paladins.

"Good! Almost there." Coran said as the Lions all began joining together. "Now, form Voltron," Leg joints were attached, a body made up, and arms were slowly locking into place. "Yes!"

Just as the Green Lion was locked into place, though, the Black Lion's images glitched violently.

Lelouch's head jerked up with a violent gasp as if he'd been shocked, eyes snapping open, his left eye glowing red as his Geass flickered. Rai cried out as well as he buckled, his eyes scrunching shut in pain. The other Paladins soon followed as a sharp pain seemed to pierce through their skulls. Their headsets glowing a brighter blue, Voltron falling to pieces as the Lelouch's image overtook it.

When the screen finally cleared an image of a stairway, as if looking down it from the top. Blood was splattered everywhere as three, no, four figures lay in pools of it. Two of them were men dressed in expensive-looking suits. At the same time, the other two, at the very bottom of the steps, was of a woman in an orange dress and long flowing dark hair, covered in bullet holes and blood. Her eyes, presumably a soft, gentle purple, were now faded and dull. In her arms was the trembling form of a little girl, eyes staring forward, traumatized and frightened, hands twitching uncontrollably. Stained glass and the remains of a chandelier were littered all around the sides.

There was screaming, and the Paladins couldn't tell if it was coming from them or this memory. They didn't have time to draw conclusions, though, as they all were suddenly flung backward, the image shattered.

Lelouch blinked, the pain in his head gone. It registered that someone was speaking next to him. Coran's mustached face slowly swam into focus.

"-ladins! Lelouch, are you alright?"

"Coran?" Lelouch breathed, shaking his head to clear it, "What happened?"

"Ah… I wish I could tell you myself. An unexpected glitch with the mind-meld device it seems," the advisor said, doing his best to answer. In all honesty, in his many years of watching King Alfor and the other Paladins train and bond, he never saw anything like this. Though he didn't voice it aloud, he suspected the mind-meld somehow triggered a traumatic memory for Lelouch. And because all the other Paladins were linked to it, they got caught up in it as well, causing some sort of psychic whiplash.

The prince himself quickly realized that the others were talking as well. Anxious and worried expressions plastered on their faces.

"You okay, buddy?"

"Lelouch, what was that?"

"What happened?!"

"Was that Nunnally? What happened?"

"Enough!" Lelouch leaped to his feet, though unsteadily, "I don't want to talk about it, so just leave it OKAY?!"

Every flinched back a little at the outburst but eventually complied.

As everyone watched Lelouch breathe to calm down, Milly and Suzaku were the only ones that looked the least shocked, but no less disturbed. Both of them knew what memory that was. It was one that cost Milly's family their nobility status, as well as what led Lelouch and his sister, Nunnally, being sent to Japan in the first place. Both of them knew the story, but seeing it with their own eyes just now only seemed to amplify the reality of it even further.

The day that Empress Marianne vi Britannia was found shot to death at Aries Villa in the Britannian Palace.

o~o

Coran decided to take the silence as a way to call a break time, handing out small packages of water that looked very similar in design to Capri Suns on Earth. Despite the appreciated rest, Lelouch didn't miss the suspicious and anxious looks that all but Milly and Suzaku were giving him. He even noticed Coran shoot him one before he could hide.

"Fantastic…" he muttered low enough that no one heard, sucking forcibly on his straw.

"You all have been working hard. A small break may help," Coran said, overlooking them.

Their break was short-lived, however, when Allura came tromping through the door, hands on her hips and the four mice perched on her shoulders. "What are you doing lying around?! You're supposed to be training!"

"Just resting a bit," Coran calmly explained, not in the mood to tell as to why they were, "You know, you can't push too hard."

That didn't seem to appease the Princess at all as she shot back, "What do you mean, 'can't push too hard'?" She seemed to miss the exasperated looks that most of the Paladins were giving her, except Suzaku. He was actually quite used to being ordered around harshly like this. Kallen especially looked bitter, almost purposefully slurping her drink loudly.

"Get up, you lazy lumps! It's time you face the gladiator!"

o~o

After her rather harsh order, the Paladins soon found themselves in similar positions for when they were fighting the drones. Their backs were facing each other, but much farther apart now.

"In order to defeat the gladiator, seven Paladins must fight as one," Coran instructed back up in the deck.

A port from the ceiling soon opened up with a hiss, and a giant, slender humanoid bot gracefully fell to the floor, a battle staff clutched in its hands. With a flash of blue light, it charged at the first Paladin it saw, which happened to be Shirley.

With a gasp of panic, Shirley readied her bow and fired a series of shots that she tried to aim at it, only for Kallen to have to throw up her shield to keep them from hitting her. With a fast spin, the gladiator knocked the Orange Paladin off her feet, causing her to fall hard on her back. With the wind already knocked out of her, the gladiator's staff struck her stomach with an electrical spark, knocking her unconscious.

Milly quickly charged it with her kusarigama, only for the attack to be blocked with the staff. It barraged the Yellow Paladin with a series of violent strikes, which she managed to block with the chain part of her weapon. But eventually, with a sharp jab at her ribs, she was also flung backward, hitting Shirley in the process.

Rivalz used this opportunity to fire some shots with his rifle, but the gladiator danced around the shots like a pro, causing Rivalz to have to block and back away defensively. Eventually, it knocked the gun from his hands, and the bot hit him hard on the head before swinging around, almost clocking off Lelouch's if he hadn't ducked.

'How does the Princess expect me to fight?! I don't even have a weapon!' Lelouch ranted mentally as he tried to summon that strange power that he got last time he had fought the weird red lightning. But either that was a one-time fluke or could only be done in specific environments.

The gladiator then hit Rivalz again before also sweeping him in the stomach, twirling him around until he crashed into Lelouch, knocking them both to the ground.

Rai flashed his katar out and knelt in ready position for the gladiator to approach. As it charged, the room suddenly grew dark, bright blue being replaced with vile magenta. No longer a gladiator charging, but a whole legion of sentries. Galra sentries.

With a terrified whimper, Rai froze, eyes blown wide like a deer caught in headlights.

Suzaku managed to jump in front of Rai and block the strike for the Green Paladin with his own Bayard. Kallen was by his side a moment later.

"Rai, what wrong?" she asked, "Are you okay?"

Suzaku grit his teeth as the robot moved, aiming to disarm and trip him, but Suzaku saw the movement and jumped to avoid the strike. Kallen pushed Rai out of the way as the bot leaped over Suzaku for her. Her cestus managed to catch the staff between its claws, and with a quick twist, the staff went flying in the other direction. Suzaku took the opportunity and sliced through the bot's abdomen. With a shutter, it collapsed before dissolving into the floor.

Despite the ultimate victory, though, Allura was not impressed.

"That combat simulator was set at a level fit for an Altean child! You're not even close to working as a team, let alone ready to face Zarkon!"

"Oh, really!" Kallen finally exploded, she'd had about enough with this lady, alien princess or not, "Thanks for a load of confidence! Well, newsflash Princess: We're. Not. Alteans! While we've been in this room working our asses off all day, I haven't exactly seen you participating in any this bull!"

"Kallen!" Suzaku gasped in slight horror, though he had to agree with her partially, his patience simmering as well. But who on Earth was this girl? What happened to the sick, feeble Kallen Stadtfeld they were all used to? From the looks on most of the others, except Lelouch, they were all thinking very similarly.

"Yeah, I said it! Besides, you didn't even give Lelouch a weapon! I get that we don't have his Bayard thingy right now, but you could've at least given him a knife, or a gun, or something!"

Allura, absolutely appalled by the lack of respect, was about to retaliate when another voice beat her to it.

"You know," C.C. casually walked down from the deck she'd occupied with Coran, "if you really wish to know how they'll take this training to the battlefield, I'd recommend a more… strategic approach."

"What are you talking about?" Allura snapped. She'd had just about enough of this nonsense and insubordination.

"Well, think about it," the green-haired woman continued. "Sure, strength and brawn are essential in battle, but they can easily become worthless and overbearing if they know not where to place it. It takes strategy and a sound mind to truly win. All I'm trying to say is that if you wish to know how well they'll survive, you need to test them… mentally as well."

Coran, intrigued with C.C.'s logic, asked for further clarification.

"I'm not exactly sure how your people had risen through the ranks on Altea, but on Earth, it's one's mind and cunning that will get them places. Lelouch, for example, is possibly one of the greatest minds I've ever seen."

"Oh yeah!" Rivalz said in agreement, "All those times I've seen Lelouch play chess, I've NEVER seen anyone beat him."

"Chess?" Coran asked the name sounded familiar, "does this happen to be a game as well?"

"It can be, but there's a lot of people on our planet that play it competitively too," Milly added.

"Hmmm… does it involve black and white pieces that only move in certain directions, depending on the role they play?"

"Wait," Shirley said, voicing most of the paladins' shared shock. "You know what chess is?!"

"Why it's only one of the most ancient games in Altean history!" Coran exclaimed excitedly, "Why I remember when I was a lad, my grandfather, and I would go at it for varga on end! I do recall that your father attempted to get you into the game yourself, Princess."

Princess Allura actually smiled, recalling her childhood. Chess had been one of her father's favorite games. She had never caught onto the game, but she remembered her father would use the game for strategies with the old paladins, calling out individual pieces to represent each of them and other forces they were working with.

"You seem quite versed in the game," Lelouch smirked as he sat up next to Rai.

Coran just grinned, "Ho-oh! Is that a challenge that I'm hearing?"

"Perhaps. Though what Rivalz speaks is true, I can count the number of people who have actually beaten me on the one hand."

"Righty-oh then!" Coran whooped, practically skipping out the door, "Let's see if I can't hunt down that board, and we'll play a round!"

"I'll look forward it," Lelouch chuckled almost deviously.

"What just happened?" Kallen asked, blinking.

"No idea," Suzaku admitted with a nervous laugh.

Shortly after, Coran did indeed find the chessboard, covered in about a foot of dust, but still in one piece and all pieces intact. After setting it up, the Altean was practically shaking in excitement. Lelouch had smirked in amusement, Coran was undoubtedly one of the most enthusiastic opponents he'd ever played as everyone else gathered around to spectate the match.

The match itself had been quite eventful, Coran's attitude was competitive but cheerful throughout the entire game. Lelouch had to admit, despite his silly and overly eccentric demeanor, Coran proved to be quite the adversary on the board.

Ultimately though, Lelouch ended up destroying the Altean, losing only three pawns and a bishop overall. From the start of his signature move with the king, all the Paladins could tell that Lelouch had everything under control. Though secretly, the prince believed the Altean may have been going a little easy on him.

Despite the defeat, though, after the initial shock, Coran openly congratulated the Paladin on an outstanding match and gave his wishes to play him again on a later date, which Lelouch cordially accepted.

"I do have a slight question, though."

"Oh? And what is that?"

"You started the game with the king piece. I assume you understand the risk that takes place by doing so."

"Heh, heh, true," Lelouch had admitted, "however, if a king doesn't lead, how do you expect his soldiers to follow?"

Coran's eyebrows raised in surprise, before twirling his mustache inquisitively. "I see. An interesting mindset you have, Lelouch."

o~o

"Ahoy, young paladins!" Coran said about an hour later. The Paladins gathered around the dining table. In front of them were plates loaded with food goo and even more in bowls along the table as well as small pink packages or what they assumed was… well... more food goo. "I've whipped up a big batch of focusing food. After this meal, you'll be forming Voltron six times a movement and twice on the astral conflux."

"Smells great, Coran," Rai said on behalf of all of them, "Thanks!"

Before the Paladins could even dip their sporks in for a first bite, Coran threw up his arm, which was hiding a remote control. With a swift click of a button, the Paladins' arms were chained to one another from cuffs that appeared from the floor.

"Hold the phone!" Rivalz protested in shock. Similar expressions marred the faces of the other members.

"I saw a lot of solid individual performances today," Coran commentated, expression and tone suddenly serious, "but you're still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day."

"Coran," Milly said in a warning tone after she and a couple of others pulled on the cuffs to see if they'd budge. They didn't, "I highly advise thinking about what you're doing!"

Coran simply grinned, "Oh, this one's a classic. You get to feed each other, like a pack of yalmors!"

Despite the supposedly optimistic attitude, only glares and groans of frustration emanated from the paladins. This was going to be a long meal.

o~o

A hulking device, illuminated by purple light, stood firm and tall. Wires interconnected it and a small floor port. It was not on as the vital source had not transferred yet.

The tyrannical emperor watched from the floor above. He trusted completely in the witch's creation. The Paladins were still young and inexperienced, and this would bring them to their knees.

The witch herself lifted her bony hand, and a capsule containing the muscular prisoner rose to the surface. It was grinning in malicious excitement. Finally, after all this time, it would have its revenge.

She thrust her hands out with a single grunt, her robes and hair billowing in an invisible wind.

The creature roared in agony before all was consumed in the light. The floor and wiring lighting up with life that transferred into the giant mech behind him. Lights sprang on as it opened it's 'eyes,' one yellow, one a slit white.

o~o

"Ah-augh!" Shirley gasped as her food goo went flying from her spork, her fist colliding with her face.

"Sorry!" Rivalz said sincerely. She groaned as she reached down for another scoop, only her to accidentally bite the Blue Paladin's hand rather than the spork.

"Ew!" he flinched back involuntarily, causing the goo to fly in the other direction. This time he tried to move a little more with the Orange Paladin, only to pull Suzaku with him, the Purple Paladin's hand landing flat in his the green goop. "Oh nice Suzaku, you defiled my food goo!"

"It's your fault!" Suzaku protested, "You moved too suddenly!"

"Urgh!" Kallen growled, "This is ridiculous!"

"Do Earthlings ever stop complaining," Allura asked haughtily. She and C.C. had joined the Paladins at the dining table. Only the Princess's royal etiquette training had kept her from bursting into a long stream of suggestive exclamations as she attempted to eat her platter.

"On good days, not very often," C.C. said, poking and rolling her goo about her plate. She wasn't sure where these Alteans learned to cook, but would it have killed them to at least provide something that looked a little similar to pizza? She was ordering herself a lifetime supply once they got back to Earth. She didn't care if she ran Lelouch's wallet and bank account entirely into the ground.

"C.C., the sarcasm is not appreciated," Lelouch said, glaring at the immortal.

"Can't you just give us a break?" Milly queried, her tone highly annoyed, "Everyone's been working really hard today!"

"Yeah!" Rai jumped up, fed up with her attitude, "We're not some prisoners for you to toy with, like… like…" he was drawing a blank with his insult.

"Like a bunch of toy prisoners!"

"Yes! Thank you, Rivalz!"

"Guys!" Suzaku protested, appalled at the others' behavior, "Look, I get that everyone's upset, but that gives you no right to disrespect the Princess."

"Ha! At least one of you has some manners; he's correct!" Coran reprimanded.

"Oh, the princess of what?" Kallen spat, her face almost going as red as her hair with rage, "We're the only ones out here, and she's no princess of ours!"

Kallen probably would've continued her rant had a giant blob of food goo not hit her smack in the face. The culprit being Princess Allura herself, her spork in front of her and her free hand moving away as if she'd just used it to flick something… which she totally did.

The room went completely silent, and still, Kallen was frozen in place, trying to process what the heck just happened, even C.C. paused in between her bites.

'She really should not have done that!' Lelouch noted, silently panicking. He'd seen Kallen when she was angry, and the Princess was walking on some thin ice right now!

It didn't seem possible for Kallen's face to get any redder, but she grit her teeth and practically snarled at the Altean, her eyes drilling holes into her head.

"Oh, it's on!" She screamed as she grabbed the closest thing she could catch, it being Rai's entire plate of goo. Together with the platinum blonde, they both flung it in her direction.

Allura gasped in shock. Just before it could hit her, Coran batted it away with his serving towel, and with a giant, graceful swoop of a ladle, sent a large glob right back at them. It collided head-on with each Paladin at the table.

C.C. wisely lowered herself to the ground and hid in the safety of the underground table.

'Okay, that's IT!' Lelouch roared in his head, before abruptly rising from his seat himself. Now he was mad; his patience had been strained far enough, "PALADINS! I COMMAND YOU TO ATTACK!"

"YES SIR!" they exclaimed in unison, as they grabbed their weapons (plates and utensils) and started hurling them at the Alteans. Even Suzaku, who usually attempted to be as cordial as possible with royalty had reached his limit, as his food fling hit their adversaries square in the face. Allura and Coran quickly returning fire of their own.

Armageddon quickly pursued. Bowls and plates overturned, green goo hit the walls and chairs, proving to be very futile shelters from the sharp aims from both sides. However, the Paladins still found themselves much more exposed as they were still tied together.

By the time calm fell back on the group, nobody had escaped the wrath of the food goo. Plates scattered over the table, and almost all the chairs overturned. The goo clung to their hair and armor, some of it still dripping and sliding down their faces. They would all definitely need showers after this.

The Paladins all blinked, their minds coming out of a haze of adrenaline. They all looked at each other, confused about what the heck just happened… before bursting into good-natured laughter. Sure, they were all still covered in food, but at this very moment, they didn't care. It was actually even fun!

"Enough!" Allura suddenly shouted, bringing the laughter to a halt. And here came the lecture. Not only had they started a food fight and made a massive mess of the dining hall, but their two hosts had been the targets of their uncontrolled ire. "Do you see what you're doing?!"

Here it comes…

Allura lifted her head, a wide grin on her face, "You're finally working together as one!"

They blinked. What happened to the- wait!

"Hey! She's right!" Rivalz realized with a grin of his own.

"I… actually don't hate you guys right now," Kallen admitted, smiling genuinely.

"Yeah! Totally!" Shirley nodded.

"Best bonding exercise ever!" Milly cheered, yanking her's and Lelouch's arm in the air.

"You all thinking what I'm thinking?" Suzaku asked triumphantly.

"Let's go form Voltron!" Lelouch proclaimed.

"YEAH!" Everyone was jumping in the air…. Before losing balance and falling on top of each other.

After taking some time to untangle themselves and wipe off the goo, the team confidently marched to their Lions.

One elevator, zip line, pod tunnel, and a second elevator later, all the Paladins were situated in their Lions.

"Is everyone ready?" Lelouch asked, gripping the Black Lion's controls, eyes lighting up.

"Roger that!" Rai answered.

"It's on!" Rivalz cheered.

"Yes, sir!" Kallen replied.

"I was born ready!" Shirley grinned.

"Up and at'em!" Milly quipped.

"Ready to proceed!" Suzaku said boldly.

"Then let's go!" Lelouch ordered. With a mighty roar that shook the room, the Black Lion flew up and out of the hanger.

"YEAH!"

Just like with their battle with Sendak, the same feeling of 'oneness' washed over the seven Paladins, as their lions converged with eager bellows, appendages retracting and sliding into place. Arms, legs, knees, and at last, the head. Voltron's strong face shown once again as it flew across the sky and landed gently in the field, Allura, C.C., and Coran watching a safe distance away.

"I told you I could get them to do it." Allura said, "They just needed a common enemy."

"It's true. Like the old proverb says, 'A man can be driven to do anything, if a beautiful woman is just really, really mean to him."

C.C. burst into a series of giggles as a peeved Allura scowled at her advisor.

'Oh, if only they knew how true that is!'

o~o

"Man, that was cool!" Rivalz exclaimed in the lounge later, "I'm so charged up, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to sleep tonight!"

"Not me," Kallen smirked, "When my head hits the pillow, I'm gonna be lights out."

"I just want you to know," Shirley said emotionally, sliding between Rivalz and Kallen, "that I realized when we were in Voltron, we're family!" She slung her arms tightly around the Blue and Red Paladins, pulling them close, "You know? Like, we're totally connected. No secrets, no barriers, no nothing. A family all the way. I love you guys!"

"Indeed, we are!" Milly proclaimed, "In this together. The romance of the three kingdoms: 'It matters not that we were born apart, but upon this day we die as one!'"

"Is that your idea of a love quote?" Rivalz asked.

"If one of us goes down, then we all do," Milly smirked mischievously.

"...That's a little dark there, Milly," Rai said, "don't you think Suzaku?"

The Green Paladin gasped as he saw Suzaku's eyes slowly tear up, "I'm glad," he sniffled and wiped the tears that were falling, "that we can all be together, you know like this?"

Lelouch smiled at his friend, very similar feelings rising in him as well.

Rivalz then sprung up and practically tackled Suzaku to the floor, legs and arms wrapping around him, "Oh come on! We're supposed to be unwinding right now!" Everyone laughed at the engagement.

"But that's what's so refreshing about Suzaku, though," Shirley said.

"Yeah, though once in a while, you just want him to get a clue, you know?" Milly answered hands on her hips.

"Oh, sorry about that," the Purple Paladin answered, Rivalz squishing his cheeks playfully.

"Oh, but you love it, don't you puddy tat!" Another round of laughter enveloped them; even Kallen was laughing at the silliness.

"G-forces messing with your heads a little bit?" Lelouch inquired with a grin.

"Maybe a little bit," Rivalz admitted as he and Suzaku untangled.

"Well, I'm gonna head to bed," Kallen said, standing up and heading for the stairs, "see you all tomorrow."

"Yeah, I like the sound of that," Rai murmured, eyes suddenly starting to droop. Most of the team began heading for the exit when Shirley noticed Lelouch still sitting down.

"Aren't you going to bed, Lulu?"

"In a minute," the Black Paladin replied with a small smile.

"Don't stay up too late, Lulu," Milly scolded light-heartedly, "you don't have the excuse of late-night gambling here!"

Lelouch just laughed as everyone exited the room. As he found himself alone again, though, he let out a tired sigh. Lelouch reached into his burgundy pocket and pulled out a small photograph that had been lounging in it since they'd left Earth. He'd only shown this picture to a few select people.

He was about eight or nine years of age in the photo, dressed in a majestic white suit and white cravat decorating his neck. He was standing next to a beautiful woman in a dark navy gown and a large white and blue headpiece sitting on a small bench overlooking a beautiful garden. The woman was holding a little girl's hand, about six or seven years of age in a pale pink dress with puce trimming, her light brown hair tied in two high ponytails.

Two of the space mice that had been in the room with them came closer, squeaking in concern, the smallest, Chulatt, perching on his shoulder and the larger green one, Platt, on his thigh.

"If you plan to keep this charade going, Lelouch," C.C. said, emerging from the shadows, still dressed in her straight-jacket she'd been wearing all day, "you'll have to tell them eventually."

He let out a long, tired sigh, "I know…"

o~o

A ship prepared for launch at Zarkon's main base. Not just any ship. This one carried a weapon that would bring Voltron to its knees.

"This beast will allow us to destroy the Paladins," the emperor himself sneered next to Haggar, "And then, Voltron will be ours."

With a whoosh of fire, the ship took off into the cosmos. The destination: Arus. Target: Voltron.

#Fanfiction #AU #Voltron #Code Geass #lelouch lamperouge #kallen kozuki #suzaku kururugi #rai (lost colors)#shirley fenette #rivalz cardemonde #milly ashford #princess allura #coran #c.c.

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