Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Daniel remembers that when he was young Voltron and it's paladins were heros. He, like most other kids, admired and looked up to them. Then one day, when he was around 10 years old something happen.

They were holding a ceremony for Voltron when suddenly, out of nowhere, the lions started to act up, causing a panic. It was then ordered that the lions to be taken to concealment since they were a threat to the universe. No one fought that decision, it was as if suddenly everyone had forgotten everything Voltron had done for them.

Currently, 16 year old Daniel was studying -and dying of boredom- at the Earth's Garrison.

In all honesty the major reason why he had applied there was because that's where the paladins of Voltron -at least most of them- had studied, and it was known that after the whole ordeal with the lions some had settled there as -at least- part time teachers. That was probably why he had hoped (more like expected) for the classes to be a lot more practice driven, not these boring slow and sitting and taking notes kinda class.

He sighed, bored to the bone, while not paying attention to the teacher. So of course he wasn't sure what to say when the teacher asked something and followed with Cadet Daniel. He hesitated for a moment and looked around, stopping at the guy next to his seat who locked eyes with him, trying his best to secretly tell him something.

Oh "The battle of Gemini 4?"

"Correct" said the teacher.

Daniel smiled at the guy next to him who nodded in approval, Daniel nodded back.

"Commander Lance" greeted the teacher, clearly surprised "To what do we owe your visit?"

Daniel looked up behind him. There was Commander Lance McLain, looking at him with a strange look in his eyes. He chuckled at the amazed looks most of the teens were giving him.

"Just came by to see the cadets, after all the first term is about to end and I still haven't come greet the newbies" said Lance with a relaxed shrug, he whistled "This place looks nothing like when I was a cadet" he walked up to where the teacher was. He turned in his place to not give his back to the students, he waved "Hello everyone" he grinned "Any of you bored?" he looked at Daniel.

Was I that obvious? he couldn't help but chuckle "Maybe" he whispered under his breath.

"Can't blame you, after all you won't get any actual piloting training until your… third year I think?" he looked at the teacher for answer, the teacher nodded.

Daniel huffed. Third year.

"So if anyone has any question then go ahead and ask" Hands darted up and Lance looked around. "Yes cadet?"

"Sir" said Daniel, "With all due respect" Lance's smile trembled "Why are you teaching here instead of protecting the universe? What really happened to Voltron?" Lance's smile disappeared.

"Dan!" practically shrieked the teacher "You know talking about Voltron has been forbidden by Sky Marshall Wade, there are consequences for violating this order" he turned to Lance "I apologize for him"

"It's alright," Lance shrugged "I'll talk about this once. Yes, I used to be a paladin of Voltron but after the… incident, that's something I've put in the past. Myself along with Tech Sergeants Hunk and Pidge are now loyal soldiers in Galaxy Alliance Military" he explained dryly, without the smile "And Princess Allura is ruling in the new Altea planet"

Daniel stood up "What about the black paladin? Commander Keith?"

"Ex-Commander Keith is a wanted fugitive and nobody knows his whereabouts"

And damn was Daniel angry "How could you and the rest of the team just turn your backs on Commander Keith and Voltron?"

Now Lance seemed truly unhappy "Defending the universe is our top priority and that's exactly what the Galaxy Alliance is doing. Voltron was just a vehicle."

"Just a vehicle?"

"That's enough" Lance walked up to him "You are coming with me" he looked at the guy next to Daniel "You too"

"Me?" he croaked "What did I do?"

"Guilt by association"

UGH

Lance had a hand on their shoulders while he walked them to Sky Marshall Wade's office. The aforementioned was having a teleconference with some of the Galaxy Alliance's leaders. His lion sleeping by his feet. He seemed… unhappy, to say something. He seemed to be especially angry with Coran the Altean ambassador. Everyone was dismissed and he turned to them.

"Commander Lance" he greeted "These must be the cadets you told me about"

"Yes Sir" said Lance pushing them forward.

Daniel cursed internally, the Sky Marshall was scary.

"Normally I don't like to concern myself with petty academy matters, but I take my No Voltron policy very seriously" he hovered over them, frowning deeply.

"Sir!" said Daniel "I take full responsibility he doesn't belong here! I hardly know him and -!"

"Do not speak Cadet" interrupted the Sky Marshall "And don't play that sickening nobility card either" the lion walked around them "Is a liability in combat, I don't need some sass who will hesitate to consulate their moral compass. Of course this won't be a problem for you if you don't violate my policy again" he started raising his voice more and more "Because the second offence will mean expulsion!" he then spoke normally again "However, this being your first you receive the automatic sentence of cleaning duty for the rest of the first term, and all of the second term as well. I hope this teaches you to scrub Voltron out of your lives completely"

"I'm sure this experience will show them an entirely different perspective on Voltron" commented Lance while taking out some buckets and soap from who knows where.

"It already has" muttered Daniel angrily.

Once on the toilets, alone with his classmate and already cleaning he spoke to him.

"Man, I'm so sorry I got you into this… mess"

"Hey" said the guy calmly "You just said what I was thinking I'm just more the no confrontation type" he smiled.

"Yeah, speaking of type I've been meaning to thank you for helping me in class. How do you do …?" he motioned with his fingers as if he was playing a videogame "That?"

"A techgician never reveals his tricks" he responded smugly while showing off his edited toilet brush.

Daniel chuckled "You are an interesting guy" and walked to him "I don't even know yo-"

"It's Vince. Should I pretend I don't know your name is Daniel to make this less awkward for you?" he said making Daniel chuckle again.

"Probably. Well, I definitely owe you one Vince" he reached out to shake his hand.

"Yeah, don't worry about it" he shook it "You can just save my life sometime"

Both looked disgusted at their hands. So they went wash them.

"So Vince, what do you think of this place so far?"

"You mean besides the life sentence of latrine duty?" they dried their hands "And the fact that one of our heroes turned out to be a total snart"

"Yeah" they walked out the room "And then there's this I came here to fly jets and all first years do is stupid simulators" they walked by the simulators room so they took a peak in.

"Actually I like the simulators all the fun of fly with none of the death"

The door opened "Wha-" he looked back at Vince.

"You wana?"

Daniel smirked "Totally"

They ran in, taking advantage that the room was completely alone and jumped into some of the machines.

"Wait" said Vince, taking notice of something "I thought you didn't like the simulators"

"I don't, at least not when we're supposed to be in them. But now" he said a little bit more to himself "We're like Commander Keith, rebel outlaws, operating in the shadows"

They activated the simulators and began.

These were battle simulators, so they were shooting enemy units while flying, both sharing the same simulation even in different machines.

"See? These simulators are way too easy" bragged Daniel, shooting the units down "I'm ready to stop pulling 12G's!"

"Is this interesting enough for you?" Vince got in front of him, taunting him to race.

"Hey! I thought you were nonconfrontational" said Daniel smiling.

"I am… in real life"

Suddenly a third simulator joined them.

Vince noticed it first "Well would you look here. It seems the simulator wants to feel more hurt" he joked.

"Easy peasy" said Daniel smugly.

The third simulator took up and left them behind easily.

"Well, can't you boys keep up?"

Oh damn "Commander Lance?!" squeaked Daniel.

"You just wanna get expelled, don't you?" he taunted "Considering his is most likely your last act as G-A Cadets… Hope you're strapped on tight"

"Why?" asked Daniel "Is not like these simulators are gonna OH" he couldn't not scream.

Neither couldn't Vince. Both screamed as the simulators suddenly weren't simulators and they found themselves flying through the empty corridors of the school. Daniel sheered.

"You might wanna pull your emergency brake" said Lance calmly "Right. Now"

Both Lance and Daniel landed smoothly, Vince's simulator hanging not very high from a tube.

"Your simulator almost killed me!" he shrieked, getting off the machine.

Lance hovered around Daniel and took a photo from the teen's pocket. It was of the paladins, probably from an old magazine or something.

"Huh. And Voltron contraband to boost" he said with a very annoying tone "Wade would throw you in a secret holding cell for that." his tone suddenly changed, his pose more relaxed as a door opened behind them "Lucky for you I'm not Wade" he got in the room, followed by the teens.

The room was big and there was what seemed to be trash and machines parts all around. There was a big computer and someone was typing fast.

"Boys" said Lance "Welcome to -"

"The den" said the person that was previously typing, turning to them on their chair.

"I would like you to meet -"

Vince gasped "You're Pidge"

"The Green paladin!" added Daniel.

There was the sound of a laser firing and a oops, they turned to find-

"The Yellow paladin!" said Daniel.

"Everything alright?" asked Pidge.

"Yeah just checking something" said Hunk, Lance chuckled.

"Is Keith here too!?" asked Daniel excited looking at Lance.

"Always with the Keith" sighed Lance, although he seemed amused "But no" he said giving the photo to Pidge.

"Why did you put glasses on top of my glasses?" complained Pidge. Hunk and Lance were laughing.

"I… uhm… Six eyes?" Pidge joined the laughter "I don't know I'm not an artist"

"Well" said Hunk "Gotta get back to duty," he walked to the exit "But I'll look forward to working with you… in the future"

"Huh?" Daniel and Vince looked at Lance for an explanation.

"We need to keep up appearances" he said "We're pretending to be the epitome of the good soldier, and loyal to Sky Marshall Wade so he never suspect our underground activities. Pidge and Hunk built this secret network that has access to Wade's G-A resources"

"It's been quite useful on helping Keith on his secret mission"

"What kinda secret mission?" Daniel couldn't not ask.

"The kind that's, a secret" Lance raised a brow.

Daniel groaned "Okay fine. But you haven't explained why we're here, what does any of this have anything to do with… us?"

"Let's just say your talents have been noticed and we would like to cultivate them" said Lance "In fact, how would you like to take a very cultivating course right now taught by, yours truly"

"Totally!" exclaimed Vince "What's the course?"

"Toilet scrubbing 101. Oh wait, you have a bt of experience, we'll call it 102" Pidge snorted.

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose "Okay, we can tell that there's something cool going on here but if it involves cleaning more toilets"

Lance was absolutely amused "Look, we'll be asking you to do a lot of things in the future that won't seem to make sense, but there will always be a reason. The question is, after what you've seen, do you trust me?" he asked completely serious.

Daniel smiled nervously "I think so. Why won't you give us a straight answer about anything?"

Pidge snorted from the desk. Lance ignored that "Partially because you're not ready to know but mostly because it's way more fun for me this way. So, I'll ask again. Do you trust me?" he raised his brow seemingly cheekily "Cuz if you don't I can have Pidge erase us from your memory"

Vince and Daniel shared a look. Daniel inhaled deeply "Okay. We're in."

"Phew" Lance did as if he cleaned sweat from his forehead "That's a huge relief cuz we do not have a memory erasing device, that is science fiction"

"For now" Pidge muttered for themselves.

They got the boys to sit in front of a screen connected to Pidges laptop.

"School is in session" said Lance, Pidge put a photo of Wade on the screen "How much do you know about Sky Marshall Wade?"

"He's head of the Galaxy Alliance Military division" answered Vince.

"And a snart who hates Voltron" added Daniel.

"True" snorted Pidge "But is more complicated than that. Wade has been wanting control of the Alliance's military for years, always claiming that Voltron is dangerous because of the power of the lions is an ancient technology that isn't fully understood."

"Tho we can't prove it," continued Lance "We know he sabotaged Voltron to turn the public against it"

"I knew it!" explained Daniel.

"Wade used this as an excuse to convince the Galaxy Alliance that Voltron's power isn't to be trusted and got most of the lions to be stored and sealed on Altea"

"However I believe that Wade just wanted to study their technology"

"Well I believe is time to start your first class project" jocked Lance, Daniel and Vince stared at him with curiosity "Wade is a well decorated General but he's particularly proud of is four strype pin, Hunk has made a replica of this pin and you boys are gonna swap this out"

"You master revenge plan is to switch out his favorite pin for a fake?" mused Daniel.

"Yyes, remember our earlier conversation about trust?" Lance had that smug smile on his face.

Which Daniel mirrored "Remember you don't have a mind erasing device?"

Lance snorted "Touché. Let's continue anyway, shall we?" bot boys nodded "Latrine duty happens to be the only hole in Wade's security." they walked out the room "The toilet cleaning cadets happen to have pretty much unfettered access and like all disciplined army men Wade does everything in an airtight schedule, and I mean everything. Now, we already know you have a talent for sneaking around, so when Wade's Coda's offer is 0600 that's your chance to make the swap, should be a piece of cake."

They were doing exactly as planned, careful and quite afraid of being catched by the Sky Marshall. They breathed when they got out the bathroom.

"Nailed it" whispered Daniel as he silently high fived Vince "Nice"

"Sweet" said Vince.

They heard a low growl and froze. It was Wade's lion, getting closer to them. They heard the toilet being flushed.

"I think he's finally finished" commented Vince "Like us"

The lion roared to their faces. Daniel put the toilet brush on it's mouth, both began running immediately. Vince screamed when he noticed the lion -without the toilet brush- running after them. He slipped and crashed with the wall. The lion jumped to him and he truly believed he was done for. Daniel jumped and pushed the lion away, he took Vince's hand and dragged him away, both getting through a door that they immediately closed so the lion couldn't get them.

They gasped for air.

"Ho-how did you?" asked Vinc "What were you thinking?!"

"I didn't think at all, guess you're lucky I'm impulsive" both were smiling.

"Yeah well, consider the saving my life debt paid, I was gonna hold it over your head but-" the shut up when they heard Wade talking, and -as quietly as possible- sneaked away.

"Ah~ there it is, nice job boys" congratulate Lance "Piece of cake, right?"

"More like piece of meat" murmured Vince.

"Well, you did such a good job I've decided to expel you from the academy after all" Vince and Daniel stared at him baffled "Unless you rather stay and finish up your two terms in latrine, you are showing great promise in that field of study" Daniel and Vince looked at each other both surprised and relieved "Go on and pack your bags boys, we're taking a road trip"

"This is all happening so fast" reflected Vince.

"I often find fast is he best way" commented Daniel.

Lance put the pod in autopilot and turned to the teens "So I think you boys have earned the right to know a bit more about Wade's pin, more like pins," he said stretching the blue, red, green and yellow stripes away from each other "And more like keys than pins" he separated them, red and blue on his left and green and yellow on his right.

"The keys to the lions" said Daniel connecting the dots.

The pod landed and the door opened. There stood a tall woman with pointy ears and pink marks under her eyes, dark skin and long curly white hair.

"Welcome to Altea" she said "And welcome to the castle of lions"

The castle was huge. Daniel and Vince stared at it in disbelief and awe.

"Where's the black key?" finally asked Daniel.

"I assure you" said Lance "It's in good wrists"

The lion roared back to life and no one could do anything as it stood up and race through the hallways, destroying everything in its way. It broke out and ran on the floor of the asteroid it was in before taking of into the distance.

Chapter Text

"And we'll conclude our tour in the castle's control room," said Allura, guiding them into another room "Where all the Voltron missions are planned"

It wasn't like they imagined. In all honesty, Daniel had pictured a room with five colored door that would take them to the lions, but it wasn't like that, it looked more like the cockpit of a very big vessel.

"What about the lions?" asked Daniel, almost desperate to see the legendary machines "Can we see them?"

"All in good time" was the response she gave him "However, right now you'll be going through this door" she guided them to a door that almost seemed hidden "to your top secret classroom"

The door opened automatically, revealing a very… normal looking classroom, except for the fact that there were only three desks.

"Wow" he said sarcastically "Our top secret classroom looks a lot like… a classroom"

"It's equipped with just enough to suit its educating purposes"

"Sooo..." said Vince "There's a third desk?"

"Oh yay" said an altean girl while coming in "Classmates"

She had orange hair up on a ponytail with two bangs framing her face, her eyes were blue, just like the marks under her eyes and her skin was white, while still showing that she spent quite some time under the sun. Daniel smiled, Vince raised a brow.

"Well… she seems nice" noted Vince sarcastically.

"Yeah, real nice" said Daniel -tho he was referring more to her looks-.

Allura cleared her throat, bringing Daniel back to reality.

"Vince, Daniel. I'd like you to meet my niece, Larmina"

"Well played knuckleheads" greeted Lance.

Allura walked to the front, were there was a big touchscreen and the teacher's desk. She touched it and it showed a CGI picture of the yellow lion.

"As you all know" she started "the Voltron force is made up of five separate lions" the screen passed CGI models of the lions "that are strong individually but are much more powerful when they come together to form the mighty Voltron" the CGI lions fused to make Voltron "Unity is our core" she signaled them to come close, which they did.

From what seemed to be the teacher's desk appeared a small platform with three bracelets, black with clearer lined that laked color, the V-like symbol of Voltron's chest was on it. Allura gave each one.

"These are your Volt-coms" she explained "Over time you will learn all of their practical applications, but it is more than a mere tactical device. It is your link to the lions and more importantly, to each other. As I activate each of you with the power of the lions you're becoming part of a team, part of the Voltron legacy. I welcome you and turn you over to Lance" the mentioned greened from the entrance door "Who has the great responsibility of teaching you how to carry this honor"

"Thank you" he said when both crossed paths, he inside and she outside. "Well, now that we're all part of the Voltron Elite" he said almost mockingly "Let's begin our first class with… A pop quiz"

The three teens groaned loudly.

"Come on" complained Larmina.

"I thought this school was about piloting the Voltron lions" seconded Daniel.

"There's a lot more to being part of the Voltron Force than piloting the lions" Lance clicked something on his bracelet and the whole room changed, transforming to what seemed to be a training area.

Larmina stood up as the desks disappeared, letting both boys fall on their asses with a grunt.

"We're gonna test your hand to hand combat skills to see what we're working with. Who wants to go first?" Larmina raised her hand. "Which of you gentlemen would want to fight the lady?"

Daniel and Vince stared at each other.

"You should" said Vince.

"I'm not gonna fight a girl" retorted Daniel.

"I don't wan-" they were interrupted by Larmina hitting them on the back of their heads.

"I'll take you both on" she said unamused.

Daniel and Vince shared a look crouching to fighting position, trying to enclose the altean. Lance snorted. Both boys jumped to her, but Larmina took them down practically effortlessly.

"Wow" said Daniel, Vince groaned. Both stood up.

"You haven't been in a lot of fights have you?" commented Lance.

"No" said Vince.

Daniel was first to get ready again. Going for the same tactic, with same end results.

"Anytime you're ready to start" she taunted.

Daniel and Vince shared a look. Daniel nodded and stood fast to push Larmina, using Vince to make her fall. Vince got up and cheered.

"He! Cheap playground tricks" she said "That's all you got?"

"Hey" said Daniel standing to high five Vince "Who's the one on their but?"

Larmina got back up "You in about two seconds"

She and Daniel glared at each other, Lance got in between them, one hand on each of them.

"All right, let's just review your test results, shall we?"

"Wait, you graded that?" asked Daniel, almost indignated.

"Noo, your Voltcoms did. You guys have no idea how cool these things are, pretty soon you'll just think something and the Voltcom will automatically do it"

"It can read our minds?"

"Pshh no dude," chuckled Vince "It must be our body signals, muscle movement, adrenaline levels, blood pressure and associate those with specific Voltcom functions! probably some form of biometrics"

Daniel looked at Lance for an explanation.

Lance shrugged "Pidge and Hunk made them but I was just gonna say it's magic. It picks up on your natural talents and abilities and adapts to strengthen them, in this case I wanted to see what weapon it would pick for each of you based on your fighting abilities. Larmina, hit this button" he said pointing to a button under his wrist.

She did as told and with a soft pew it was on, creating what seemed like a pointless lance out of seemingly nothing.

"Nice… stick?" said Vince.

Excited, Larmina missed no time on trying it out, doing some trick with obvious practice then stretched it, turning it into nunchucks.

"I like my stick"

"Uhu" mused Lance "And how about you boys?"

Daniel clicked the button, and on his hands and feet appeared what seemed to be clawed gloves and shoes.

"What do I do with these?... Rawr" he motioned with his hands as if they were paws.

The claws projectiled themselves away, still connected to his gloves and dragged him to where they had sticked themselves to. Then, once on all four, his shoes reacted and threw him up away to where his body was inclined, making him crash to the wall.

"Ookay, we'll have to work on that one. Let's see what it has in store for you Vince"

Vince clicked the button "What is happening?" he exclaimed as it short circuited.

"Ahhh, Pidge will look into that" he put a hand on Vince's back for comfort.

Larmina snorted "Must've been impressed with your combat skills"

"Uhuh, I wouldn't talk to muc smack before your second period class, which is definitely more Vince's dojo" Lance clicked again something on his bracelet and the room changed again, showing four simulator pods.

"More simulators uh?" Daniel shared a look with Lance, unamused.

"OH, this is much more than a simulator," said Vince already in a pod "It's a lion simulator"

Daniel cheered while hoping into another pod. Larmina got into another reluctantly.

And they began.

"This is amazing!" cheered Vince

Daniel and Vince ran the lions with little to no problem while Larmina seemed unable to even keep her's on all four.

"It feels like the real deal," commented Daniel as if he had ever even gotten close to one of the lions "But there's really only one way to tell" he finally made to lion fly "AAAAAAWESOME"

"Well, I hate this tacky stuff" complained Larmina "I much rather be beating you up on in real l-" she shrieked losing control again.

Except it was Vince this time, pinning her emulated lion down.

"My dojo"

Lance, now with Allura's company, checked on them from the room above theirs.

"I really like these guns but, I don't get why you wanted me to bring them here now"

"Wiser forces than myself have set this in motion" she said not really explaining anything.

A video call opened automatically, showing Pidge's face.

"Allura, Lance! You guys there?"

"Pidge!" said Allura "Is everything okay?"

"No, you better see this" a second screen appeared in front of them, showing a picture of the universe making a weird shape "And this" they said making yet another screen appear, which showed a vessel.

"We need to step up the curriculum" announced Allura.

They had been called off the simulator.

"We believe a new evil is rising" explained Allura "We also believe that each of you will be a part of the force that defeats this evil"

"Why us?" mused Daniel.

"Because you have been chosen too -" the alarms blared, interrupting Allura "It's a robeast" gasped Allura when a big, circular, screen on the floor showed it to them.

"What?" choked Lance. "It can't be, we need to take the lions and investigate"

"Cool" exclaimed Daniel.

Allura and Lance stared at him baffled.

"No, not cool" scolded Lance "You guys stay here, are you cool with this?" he asked to Allura "Freeing and activating the lions will break strict Galaxy Alliance sanctions, Altea will face consequences"

"We have no choice"

Lance nodded in understanding. They took the keys and ran to their lion's doors.

The kids watched through the screen the blue and red lions trying to fight the robeast

"We can't just sit here" exclaimed Daniel.

"What can we do?" said Vince. The three of them looked at the two keys remaining. "No way Daniel, maybe the others are almost here"

"Then what can we do? We can't just do nothing!" argued Daniel.

Vince groaned. "Give me a minute" he said starting a video call. Which thankfully Pidge received "Pidge!" he greeted "What's your ETA?"

"Doing the best we can!" they answered mildly annoyed.

"Well hurry, Lance and Allura really need your help" he ended the call.

On the screen they could still see the lions struggling. Then the red lion was thrown away by the robeast, making it clash with the castle. Lance was unresponsive.

"That's it! We gotta do something!" declared Daniel, reaching for a key before running to a door (which was neither Lance and Allura had gone through).

Soon he found himself in front of the yellow lion. Who growled unhappily at him. Oh golly it was majestic, and it wasn't letting him in.

What? "What?"

He could almost feel as if the lion was studying him, maybe even looking down on him as if it wondered how dared he even show himself to it.

"What's with-? There's no time we need to go help Allura and Lance!" he snapped.

The lion moved, it opened it's massive jaw to let him in.

Wow. Daniel couldn't not get excited as he got in.

Flying out was easier -and way more exciting- than he imagined. And he made his way to where Allura and the robeast were, right outside the castle.

The lion roared as he jumped to the beast.

"Hunk?" questioned Allura when she saw the yellow lion.

"Huuu… Not exactly" said Daniel "Eat laser!" he clicked a button, it was not the laser "Uhhh, how about? Now?" that wasn't the laser either, but something else was launched and got in Allura's way. Who seemed to be trying to keep down some kind of crisis.

"Daniel" she scolded.

"I know, I know, sorry. I don't know the weapons, but I can still fight"

Lance gasped awake. Hanging upside down from his seat.

"Daniel? What are you -?"

With the yellow lion, Daniel dragged the red one away from the robeast. Which gave Allura time to reach them, and Lance to get the lion up.

"Lance, are you alright?" she asked.

"I think my arm is broken, but I still have some fight in me"

They go moving again, enclosing the robeast and firing missiles and lasers.

"If we keep working together we can keep this beast on it's heels!" said Allura.

"Yeah but does anyone has some ideas to get it off it's heels?" retorted Lance.

"Don't look at me for strategy, I only know cheap playground tricks"

"Daniel you're a genius!" said Lance "Allura keep your position! Daniel! Let's play"

Oh Daniel knew what he was thinking. He jumped to push the beast, succeding.

"Yeah"

"Nice" seconded Lance "Pin it!" he and Allura jumped on it too.

"We need another lion!" said Allura.

"Did somebody said another lion?" it was Vince.

"Wha-? Whatever. Come on guys!" called Allura.

Why was Larmina in the pilot seat? She stared at the controls in confusion.

"Here" said Vince "You control the jaws while I take the legs"

"Like this?" she moved something and the green lion bit the beast's hand.

"Yeah"

But they were thrown away easily.

Lance groaned "I can't get a shot without losing my grip. Come on guys, you!"

"We're losing him!" exclaimed Daniel.

Daniel and Larmina got back, jumping on the beast, helping pin it to the ground.

"We need our whole team!" complained Allura "Where's-!?"

They heard an explosion. Everyone looked up.

The black lion was crashing into Altea.

The robeast finally managed to get the lions off of itself and stood back up, roaring.

Then the black lion ripped it's head off as it crash landed next to the castle.

Everyone rushed off of their lions, as someone got off the black one, coughing.

"Keith!" Allura rushed to hug him.

"It's good to see you" greeted Lance, cradling his broken arm "Seems like the mullet is still intact" he joked.

"Where are Pidge and Hunk?" she asked.

"Did we get them?!" they heard Pidge from Allura's com.

"Pidge!" she greeted "You're okay! Yes, yes we did."

"Great! Now… wanna come get us?"

After getting Hunk and Pidge from space, treating Lance's arm and once everyone was in the control room hugs and greetings continued. Everyone hugging each other and taking crash Keith with their arms.

"You did real good out there Daniel" said Lance, ruffling his hair "Hey Keith!" he called, bringing Daniel with him "I wanna introduce you to my new hero"

Oh golly was Daniel excited.

Chapter Text

They were in a meeting room, everyone slightly comfortable in their seats. Keith was standing up, Lance -with his arm on a sling- was to his right, Allura next to him, Hunk and Pidge to Keith's left.

"We all knew something was coming, but a robeast suggest worst than we thought" said Lance "Then there's Wade"

"We can handle Wade" interjected Allura "Is this new threat we need to worry about"

"We should organize a recon" started Keith.

"I disagree, now that we've recovered all the lions we should regroup and wait to-"

"We can't wait" interrupted Keith "Whatever this new threat is it has robeasts and who knows what is doing at this very moment if we wait -"

"We have to deal first with the consequences of reactivating the lions Keith," retorted Lance "And do our best to actually avoid the consequences so we can keep the lions and use them in the future"

"We can do that after we do a recon, this new threat is more important -"

"If we go do a recon now it will only make things harder for us, we need to settle things with the Galaxy Alliance first"

"Then what about doing that while we do the recon"

Lance almost choked with his own spit "Do you even hear yourself right now Keith? You're being reckless -"

"Oh here we go with the reckless talk again"

"Guys guys" said Hunk while getting between the two (who were starting to -quite literally- start butting heads) "I think we need to… you know..."

"Work as a team?" asked Pidge, not seeming very surprised by the turn of events.

"I think we can all agree with that" said Allura, standing beside Hunk "That's where we've always found our strength"

Both mhmed in response, looking away.

"Good," she said, walking away "Now, we also need to figure out how our new cadets factor into our team"

"They can't possibly be ready for something like this" said Keith walking behind her.

"You may remember not too long ago when the same was said of another group of inexperienced young hooligans" Lance walked up to him, both behind Allura (and leaving Hunk and Pidge to tinker with something at the table).

"Just as destiny once called upon you to save the universe it has brought the cadets to us"

"And where are your new heroes now?" asked Keith.

"Studying Altean history until we figure out their situation" explained Allura.

"We may want to check that," mused Lance kind of amused "Their Voltcoms are missing from the charging station"

Vince walked through the portrait decorated corridor. He shrieked when Daniel dashed past him.

"Come on Daniel"

Daniel dashed back then back again until he lost his footing and slipped.

"What?" he said standing up "Can't try to get the hang of my Voltcom just because yours is busted?"

Vince sighed "I wish Pidge would fix mine already, or at least let me have a crack at it. I'm weaponless." he rested on a portrait, which made a loud noise -startling both teens- before disappearing. Vince gaped at it "Do… do you think we should?"

"Of course we should" he smiled before jumping into the hole on the wall.

They walked for a while through what seemed to be an old hallway, until they got to what seemed to be a very spacious room.

"Cool" breathed Daniel.

"We must be in some kind of catacomb"

Daniel made a creepy evil laugh, but Vince ignored him and kept walking.

"Vince?"

Vince walked to what seemed to be a door, there was a decoration above it, it looked like a lion's head, with its jaw open as if it was roaring. A light scanned him and the door opened.

He had a very weird feeling.

Almost in a trance he entered. It was a small room, it had a circular stage in the center and something on it, also decorated with lion heads (four in total).

He felt as if he knew what there was, or at least he was supposed to? It was a very strange feeling alright?

"Wha-?"

"Hey buddy!" called Daniel, behind him, he seemed worried "Ii'm starting to think we shouldn't be down here"

Vince was about to agree when they heard a spooky voice.

"Who dares trespass these holy grounds? How dare you bring your earthly breath to this place of illustrious royalty? Now PAY" Both jumped when they heard the voice behind them.

"Larmina?" both practically shrieked.

She laughed "You should see your dweeb faces" Both tried to lie about knowing all along it was her at the same time. "Look," she interrupted "I respect your attempted mischief, but we're a team now so I want in. Tho this not a place to goof off. You wanna find some cool passages?" she guided back out "How about someone who practically grew up here?" she said before disappearing around a corner.

"Tell me you don't think she's cool" said Daniel smiling.

Keith, Lance and Allura we're walking through a hallway, laughing. The kids watched them from a hiding spot behind a portrait.

"It's good to see you're not fighting anymore"

"Doesn't mean our debate over our mission is over" commented Lance.

"Oh I believe it does" said someone who sounded eerily like Sky Marshall Wade. "You have committed crimes against the Galaxy Alliance, crimes punishable by whatever I want"

There were robots, and one showed Wade's face on it. The adults looked around, hoping to find something to use as a weapon. Which they apparently found. Who would've thought those paintings actually had real weapons, tho most -if not all- of them were swords.

So now the paladins were armed and more than ready to fight.

"I suggest you come quietly"

"And why would we do that?" growled Keith.

"So I don't hurt your friend" it threatened, another robot showing Coran tied to a chair who knows where.

Without a word, they let the sword fall on the floor, all with a killing glare.

"Excellent. Now, where are tech sergeants Pidge and Hunk?"

"You know we're not gonna tell you," Lance groaned "So let's get to the part where you start to hit us"

"I was hoping you'd say that" the robot grabbed Lance from the shoulder of his injured arm and forced him to his knees. Lance grunted in pain. Then started dragging him, Keith and Allura followed soon.

Oh damn thought the children. Quietly, they walked away to go find the other paladins.

Pidge and Hunk were at black's hangar.

"And that's the last of the heavy lifting" declared Hunk "Back in one piece"

"Yeah, she looks great, but she's still entirely inoperative. I can't believe how much damage the programming sustained from Wade's research and that crash landing" Pidge sighed "Specially when you remember that these lions are practically sentient"

"This is gonna take a while"

"Well I don't know how long you have Wade's here!" announced Daniel as the three ran to the paladins "Well, sorta"

"He's got Keith, Lance and Allura" continued Vince.

Pidge and Hunk shared a look before running for their Voltcoms and Bayards that were close by.

"I'll go with the kids to free our friends," said Hunk "You keep with Black"

"Aand since my Voltcom is still busted I'll stay here and help Pidge"

They agreed with the 'plan'. Hunk, Larmina and Daniel rushed out the hangar back to the castle. Larmina seemed weirdly excited…

"You know your aunt is held hostage, right?" asked Hunk.

"Yeah, and we're gonna rescue her," she said still excited "You have no idea how slow thing were around here before you guys showed" she punched the air.

"Yeah, but they're definitely picking up speed" said Daniel "A broken lion, a hostile takeover and a rescue operation with a fugitive!"

"Could this get anymore intense!?" they were both a little bit to excited for the situation.

They were tied to chairs in a circle, their backs against each other and surrounded by robots.

"I want Pidge and Hunk's location, I want all five lions and I want them now"

"You're an only child, aren't you?" asked Lance, earning himself a metal fist to the face.

"Lance!" shrieked Keith.

"Lance stop" ordered Allura.

"Yes." mused Wade "Maybe if we involve her you'll take this a little bit more seriously." he hovered over Allura "Let's try this again. Where are Pidge and Hunk?"

"Wade" she responded "Why are you doing this? You know there's a real threat out there. We want the same thing, the safety of the Alliance"

Wade chuckled "The Alliance. I don't care about the Alliance, I care about power, money; and as long as Voltron is out there my profit margin is unacceptable. Now where are Pidge and Hunk!?"

"I'm right here" announced Hunk before blasting a robot.

It was easy for him and Larmina to destroy the robots quickly.

"This speed thing will come in handy at some point, right?" questioned Daniel a bit down "Larmina!" he noticed a robot behind her "Look out!" the claws of his glove thingy were projectiled to the robot, pinning it to the wall and causing it to short circuit.

"That was pretty handy" snorted Lance.

Once freed everyone rushed out of the castle, were they could hear commotion.

Machines and aliens alike were attacking the Alteans, blasting their homes and taking them prisoner.

Allura gasped "My people"

Larmina didn't stop to think before running off, determined to help her people.

There was a very big vessel in the sky. A very familiar looking one. Keith used his Voltcom for binoculars to see it better.

"It can't be..." said Keith.

Lance took his arm to see too.

"Lotor?!" he choked.

"What? That's impossible" it was Hunk's turn to see.

"He's dead" said Allura, now looking too "That… that certainly looks like Lotor"

"Yeah, Lotor was more skinny, wasn't he?" commented Lance, still in denial.

"It can't be Lotor" said Hunk.

"Whatever it is we need Voltron" said Allura.

"Yeah, but how? Pidge is still having problems with Black and Lance can't fly with one arm!" Hunk shrieked.

"This is about to get much worse" said Lance.

"We need to get to the lions!" Keith was tense, more than ready to fight.

"Black is still out of commission" repeated Hunk.

"So I'll make myself useful in the battlefield then!" declared Keith before running off.

Lance pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Alright," he turned to Hunk, Allura and Daniel "You need to tell Pidge to drop what they're doing and get to Green as for Red," he smiled smugly "I have an idea" he nodded to Daniel to follow him.

Daniel couldn't not smile. He ran after Lance.

"What about Larmina?"

"She's a tough girl, she'll be alright"

"Pidge we've got a robeast!" Hunk told Pidge through the Voltcom.

Pidge immediately ran away from Black to the panel control in the hangar.

"It's in the canyon!" they yelled to their com before dashing out of the hangar, leaving Vince alone to discover how to fix the lion.

"Please stop enjoying this so much" said Lance to Daniel, who was piloting Red "Now ease that truster"

"Daniel this isn't a race." scolded Allura "We don't know what we're dealing with."

"Well, we'll be the first to find out" Daniel said just before crashing into something.

"Nice hotshot" complained Lance.

They were trapped in what seemed to be gigantic, purple spiderweb.

Lance sighed "Hu, a little help here"

They other lions arrived soon. They tried to tear the web appart with claws and jaws.

"What's causing this?" inquired Pidge.

"That" croaked Hunk.

Right there was the robeast. A ginormous spider. It stood on two of it's back legs and shot from what seemed to be upside down horns on it's ass, hitting Hunk, Allura and Pidge.

They could see purple electricity run over their control panels which was, bad, to say the least.

"Let's go for it's underside" ordered Allura "Should be weaker"

She and Hunk charged to the robeast.

"NO WAIT" screamed Pidge.

Blue and Yellow suddenly failed, as they had tripped over a strip. The spider pinned them down with it's front legs easily. Pidge managed to free them with Green's lasers.

"I think you know something we don't?" inquired Hunk.

"Yeah, it's -"

The floor shook when something crashed behind them.

"What the quiznak!?" said Lance.

It was a lion, gray and bigger than theirs.

"Quiznak" seconded Allura.

The gray lion roared, gaining Lance, Allura and Hunk's attention. Pidge was busy being pinned by the spider. It readied an attack, but was sent flying away by the bigger lion.

"Wow, thanks"

The it trapped Pidge in it's jaw to throw them away too. The crash somehow managed to loosen the spiderweb's grip on Red, an opportunity that Lance and Daniel took to finally free Red just in time to avoid a missile sent by the gray lion. They kept moving, trying to reunite with the others and formulate a plan.

"We can circle it and attack." said Allura "Follow me!"

All jumped on the gray lion, clawing at it, trying to cause as much damage as possible with claws, jaws and blades. The gray lion managed to free itself and tried to get to the other lions but crashed with the spider then stayed fighting it, forgetting the lions.

The spider easily immobilized it, it hugged and hanged itself from it's web, then created a cocoon, locking itself together with the lion.

"Should we poke it?" asked Hunk.

"NO" responded the others at the same time.

Unsure of what to do they did nothing. It wasn't for long, but it started twitching.

"Okay, poke it" said Allura.

All fired at the same time. But not much happened.

The cocoon tore and out came the spider, now fused with the lion.

"Aw snart" said Daniel and Lance at the same time.

"Yeah, now let's -" started Pidge.

"RUN" shrieked Hunk.

The spider raced behind them, trying it's damn hardest to catch them, didn't care about destroying the canyon while on it.

It's bigger size let it swipe away the Yellow and Blue lions with one leg onto the web.

"Guys!" they heard from their coms "Guys!"

"Uhm, Vince we're a little busy right now," responded Pidge "So unless-"

"The black lion is working!"

"Aleluya!" cheered Lance "Keith where are you? How fast do you think you can get to Black?"

"Not fast enough"

"What's the probability of Blac letting Vince pilot her like Yellow did with Daniel?" asked Pidge.

"Vince do you think you can fly Black?" said Allura.

"Uh, I don't..."

Daniel and Lance shared a look.

"Go, I'll be fine on my own for a bit. I can handle evasion."

"Vince I'll be right there!" he announced before activating his Voltcom and rushing out of Red.

"Let's hope it's not too late" Lance said to himself.

Pidge screamed as they were too thrown to the web, Lance followed too soon.

"Lance!" they heard Keith scream.

"Guess who's back with help?" greeted Daniel from the black lion.

"Woohoo! It's razzle dazzle time!" cheered Lance.

Keith was piloting Black, the teens in the cockpit with him. They rushed to tear the spiderweb, managing to free the others.

"Guys, it's time to form Voltron!" called Keith.

The kids shared and exited look. The screamed and cheered all the way until Voltron was formed. Standing tall and mighty.

"Let's kick some ass guys" said Keith, grinning.

One punch got the spider running away.

"Where is it?" asked Vince.

"Hey Keith how about we make some lance-scape so we can see again?" suggested Lance.

Keith snorted and activated his bayard, creating Voltron's blazing sword. Except there was no blazing sword, they didn't seem to able to completely summon it.

"It's not working!"

"I've got a theory for that," said Pidge "I think it's all these webs, they must be weakening Voltron"

"How?" asked Hunk.

"I'll get to that in another occasion right now is not the time"

"We'll have to do it the old fashioned way" said Allura.

"With our fists?" smirked Lance.

"With our fists" affirmed Allura.

Voltron ran to the spider and hit it with the red lion, the a kick, another punch. The spider hit back, and it's hits were strong.

"Guys" grunted Hunk "I don't know how much we can take"

"Pack some more in our punch" retorted Keith, growing irritated.

"I'm trying" groaned Lance "But Voltron seems weak"

"Even fused into Voltron Black seems to be the only one not experiencing the robeast's power" mused Pidge.

Red and Green got a hold of the beast and Black headbutted it, sending it away.

"Not the most noble move" commented Allura.

"But pretty effective" ended Keith.

The spider launched missiles again, and jumped on Voltron right after them, pining it down. It clawed and hit it and did all it's damnest to harm it. And started cocooning it.

Behind Keith Vince made a weird sound, as if something hurt. He looked back to see white energy emanating from his eyes.

"What the -?"

"This is gonna eat us alive!" screamed Daniel.

"Guys there's something wrong with Vince" Keith yelled at the com.

Larmina and Daniel's head darted to his friend, finding him emanating a white energy to Voltron through his Voltcom, his eyes shining.

"Vince -?" started Daniel.

"What the quiznak?!" finished Larmina.

"Voltron's energy is back" squeaked Pidge.

Keith stared at Vince for a moment, as confused as the other kids, then his eyes darted to his bayard. One more time.

"Form Blazing Sword!" he screamed.

This time it worked. The sword went through the spider and tore the cocoon, letting them free.

Everyone cheered as the strange vessels retreated.

"You okay man?" asked Daniel to a tired looking Vince "What was that?"

"I-" he breathed "I don't really know"

The spider bled over the floor a weird purple substance.

"That thing is toxic," said Pidge "We need to get it out of Altea"

Voltron cocooned the spider with it's web and flew out of Altea as fast as possible, and threw it to the retreating vessels, managing to make most of them explode.

Back at the castle they went straight to a meeting room.

"There is a new evil in the galaxy that we do not yet understand," said Allura, the only one standing up "But there also a new and powerful addition to our team, that we also don't understand." she sighed tiredly before smiling "You are all here for a reason, to use your unique skills and to play a part in Voltron's legacy. The future will be full of surprises."

Chapter Text

"Alright," said Pidge while tapping on something right into the Altean control panel "We've got some major developments"

"Question." Lance raised his hand "Is this the type of science that can smash, burn and or explode things?"

"Yes"

"Eyes on Pidge cadets, this is the good stuff"

"Hey! It's all good stuff"

"No no no no, of course, absolutely, please, please, continue" he said making Keith snort.

Pidge sent him a small glare before continuing "Hunk and I have been working to enhance the lions' combat capabilities with a round of pretty sweet upgrades, by tying each of our Voltcom powers to the lions eachselves, like with our bayard, we have been able to customize a weapon to each lions' tail"

Lance and Daniel whistled.

"Super cool right?" agreed Hunk "In your case Keith, a tail shok."

"For Allura we've got a freeze and water ray"

"Precision laser and fire for Red"

"Demolition tail for Yellow"

"And for Pidge and Green -"

"Boomerblades" they interrupted with a -maybe kinda scary- grin on their face.

The cadets stared, waiting.

"Aand?" asked Daniel.

Hunk came to the realization first "Oh, well, for now -"

"We're focusing on the official, working, team only" explained Pidge.

"Honestly," continued Hunk "We haven't even fully tested it -"

"I volunteer to test mine" interrupted Lance, getting an amused look from Keith and unamused one from Allura and an irritated one from Pidge "Now's good for me"

The alarms started blaring as if on cue.

Pidge, still on the main control panel, went straight the cameras.

"We've got an impeding fractal" they announced "Activating defenses -"

"Wait!" when did Hunk got behind them? "We're getting a-"

"A distress call?" finished Pidge for them.

They answered and on the screen appeared...

"Coran?" gasped Allura

"Wade… stop..." The man passed out before being able to mutter another word.

The call was cut and the pod crashed next to the castle. Everyone rushed out.

There was some fire. Hunk, Pidge and the cadets rushed to get water while Keith, Lance and Allura got Coran out of the pod.

"Easy..." said Allura.

"That was quite the bad crash." noted Lance, while helping put him down.

"Don't worry, we'll get you to the healing po-"

"No!" Coran interrupted Keith "You will take me to the control room immediately"

"Absolutely not!" shrieked Allura "The briefing can wait your health is a priority"

"Princess, I'm afraid there are far more lives at stake than my own"

Huffing and unhappy, they took him to the control room. In all honesty, he seemed quite well for someone who had just had a bad crash.

"It's Wade, he's taken control of the Alliance and is already preparing his next assault." the reactions varied from getting tense to gasps to murmurs "Fortunately, his army is still small but if we're to keep it that way Wade's secret base on Tarvols must be destroyed, if not, he'll be able to create a force so numerous I fear Voltron itself might be powerless against it"

"Ha, I'd like to see that," commented Daniel arrogantly, owning himself a glare from the adults "Or, I wouldn't, which is why we should, you know… stop it"

"Alright." said Keith pinching the bridge of his nose "Thanks to Coran's early warning this should be a straight forward job"

"Then it would be alright to bring the cadets along," mused Lance "With a threat as this probably Lotor lurking out there they could use a soft mission to get up to speed"

"Actually," said Allura "I don't think the cadets are the only ones that could use some training, it's been a while since we've worked as a fivesome, I suggest we take this opportunity to, shake the rust off as you earthlings say" Hunk and Pidge nodded in agreement.

"Team rebonding it is"

"What about the cadets then?" mused Keith.

"Don't worry about us" said Daniel immediately "I'm sure we can find ways to keep busy" he winked at the other cadets.

"Real smooth, ain't he?" whispered Lance to Keith, who tried not to laugh "Nice try, but I'd like the castle to still be here when we get back"

"Coran is in charge" seconded Keith "Assuming he's feeling up it?"

"Much better already! Don't worry," he said standing up "I'll take care of the lads"

Daniel groaned.

They got to the moon quite quickly, and landed smoothly.

"Hu, it's quiet." noted Hunk.

"Still, no reason to take chances" said Pidge.

"No reason to be subtle either," seconded Keith "Want to make this team bonding official?" Lance snorted.

They flew and formed Voltron.

Once formed missiles were instantly sent to them. Quite the greeting. A laser straight to the face.

"Pidge shield!" ordered Keith.

"Can't when we're already eating the laser!" they complained.

"Guess it stopped being quiet" commented Allura.

"I thought this place was supposed to be abandoned?" groaned Lance.

"It must be an automated defense system" theorized Hunk.

"So it's got defenses" said Keith "We'll just need greater offenses"

They moved, getting away from the laser and Keith formed the sword. They started crashing the place, Pidge's now formed shield protecting them from the lasers.

Lance laughed "Hacking a moon base with a sword, this is the stuff I missed"

Vince was tinkering with something (Daniel wasn't sure what but he had a guess) on his desk. He, on the other hand, was lying on the top of the bunk bed.

"Not saying a roommate isn't great, it just isn't exactly private you know? Specially if the fab five are never going to leave us alone without a royal babysitter"

Vince chuckled "You wanna trade problems? At least you've got a working Voltcom"

"I'm thinking we need a secret HQ, kinda like the den, but cooler… the cave, no, better, the lair," he sat up on the bed "We can even have our own logo!" he jumped off and walked to his own desk with paper and pen in hand.

He didn't notice when Vince groaned and seemed to lose himself in another world, much less the soft what? that escaped his lips.

"Behold my friend!" he said turning the page "The unbelievable coolness that is the lair" it was the drawing of the head of a lion, it wasn't that bad. "Vince?" the mentioned was going out "What are you-?" the door closed behind him. So of course he ran after him "Hey! Vince!" and crashed into him, who in turn crashed into Coran.

"Huh?" said Vince "Coran! I'm so sorry" both steen got back up "I don't know what happened"

"It's alright, but perhaps you young lads shouldn't go running around the castle, we wouldn't want more injuries, now would we?"

"Absolutely" said Daniel.

"Yeah, sorry" seconded Vince.

Coran walked away.

"See? This is exactly why we need the lair"

"I'm in" said Vince without hesitation.

"Really?" Daniel was actually kinda surprised "That was easy"

"I guess there are a few things I'd like to keep secret too" he murmured.

"We could really use Larmina on this one," mused Daniel "She knows this castle's secret passages better than anyone, think she'll be up for it?"

"Definitely" she responded from the ceiling.

"You know that's incredibly creepy, right?" said Vince.

"Creepy like a ninja" she retorted "I'm always honing my stealthy stalking skills" she let herself fall, doing a somersault to fall on her feet "Gotta stay sharp"

"So now you're stalking me," said Daniel smugly, he sighed "The way the ladies just throw themselves at me, kinda sad really"

Larmina ignored his commed "Just give me a minute to grab my Voltcom before we hit the catacombs"

"Expecting trouble?" asked Daniel.

She chuckled "You two are gonna be there right?" she walked away.

"Well, she's bringing hers" shrugged Daniel.

The moon shook under their feet.

"The lunar core destabilizes," explained Pidge "If we leave it alone the entire moon should collapse on itself"

"Couldn't we give it a few more wacks anyway?" asked Lance.

They received a call that answered itself.

"I wouldn't advise it, unless you're in a hurry to seal your dear friend's fate" it was Wade.

The screen showed them then their friend, tied up to the ceiling, apparently. They gasped.

"Coran!" shrieked Allura.

"Trapped in the belly of the base you might say, if only there was a foolishly brave souls nearby to attempt such dangerous possibly suicidal rescue mission"

"Wade" growled Keith "This was a setup from the beginning, you were never coming back to this base, you wanted us here!"

"So the great commander Keith's sharp military wit is just figuring that out now?" he giggled "You'll have to be quicker than that if you don't cant Coran's demise on your hands" the call ended.

"I don't know how much longer the moon has" said Hunk, the floor crumbling under around them.

"We'll have to split up and go inside, we'll be walking right into Wade's trap but I don't see any other option"

"Agreed" said Allura "Whatever's in there I'm not abandoning Coran"

"Good, but one question," said Lance "How do we know that's the real Coran?"

"Another question," followed Hunk "If this is the real Coran, the who did we leave with the kids?"

Oh quiznak, they thought.

Larmina ran through the catacombs, followed by the boys.

"Hey Larmina! Slow down!" yelled Daniel, trying to keep up "We didn't grow up in this place!"

"What? Mister speedy pants can't keep up?"

She groaned when she crashed into something, or rather someone. She fell back, crashing into the boys, all ending on the floor.

"Coran?" she said standing up.

"You shouldn't be down here. You have no business in here."

"Of course," excused Vince "We're sorry, never gonna happen again"

Daniel glared at him "So, what's your business down here?"

"Daniel" scolded Vince.

"You're crossing the line cadet," continued Larmina "Coran has earned the respect we give him."

"No, I'm honestly curious, a couple hours ago you were so weak you couldn't stay conscious at the controls of the fractal and now you're exploring the catacombs?"

"Yeah." seconded Vince "It's a little weird."

"True. But of course there's a very simple explanation" he said just before moving incredibly fast and throwing them away with a powerful kick. He began running away.

Larmina was the first to get back up, activating her Voltcom and attacking Coran, who grew a blade from his arm to retaliate.

Next was Daniel, with his Voltcom activated he hurried to assist Larmina, who was blocking the blade.

"Who are you you freak?" snapped Larmina.

"Larmina, darling, is that anyway to speak to your dearest royal adviser?"

"Don't you speak with his voice" she growled.

She got a clean hit to his face, breaking part of it, and revealing the robotic insides. The kids gasped and the robot shot Vince with a laser, smashing him into a wall and leaving him unconscious.

The lions walked through the hallways of the base.

"I can't reach the cadets" said Allura nervously "If we left them alone with one of Wade's twisted machines -"

"They're tough kids," interrupted Lance "They can handle themselves in a fight, we have got our own Wade problems"

"Anybody else feeling like we're being stalked?" asked Hunk.

"Well chosen word tech sergeant," said Wade through the speakers.

"That's not on the monitors" informed Pidge.

"Where is it?" asked Lance.

"This here is my lair," said Wade "You were coming to my playground and I could already smell my pray"

"He's controlling the base remotely" said Pidge.

They heard a sound and immediately stopped, saving the lions from being burned, they retreated a bit. From the floor emerged razors that cut through it and chased them. Lasers activated and started firing.

"Straight forward job huh" growled Allura.

Hunk used Yellow's tail to destroy the razors, while Allura stopped the fire with a water stream from Blue's. The others destroyed the lasers.

"Maintain constant contact," said Keith "Wade has the element of surprise here, so we're gonna have to watch each others backs"

"Like old times" snorted Lance.

"Sorry," said Wade "My hunt, my rules"

From the walls big mechanical arms stretched out and grabbed the lions, managing to drag Red and Blue to somewhere else.

"Lance!" called Keith.

"These missions used to be easier." complained Hunk.

Vince groaned and slowly got back up. He looked around and found Daniel and Larmina fighting the robot.

He did some somersaults to get away, did a split to keep himself above using the walls and stroke back to the kids, who seemed to have some difficulties.

"This is crazy!" said Daniel "Who sent a robot to kill us?"

"Nobody you thiheed!" retorted Larmina "He must have some other mission a-and we're just in the way"

"I've got an idea!" said Vince putting on his self-edited watch "Tryna hold him!"

"Try to hold him!?" croaked Daniel "You call that an idea?!"

Vince screamed as he threw himself to the robot from behind, getting him in a shock hold, he did his best to connect his watch to the robot from his exposed area, and he barely managed. The robot threw him away but Vince had already managed to get something. He checked his watch.

"He's got some kinda bomb! If he plants it in the correct destination spot he can blow down the whole castle!"

"What?!" shrieked Daniel.

"Quiznak!" seconded Larmina.

"You heard the boy" said the robot, it's voice distorted. It ran away through a wall.

"Vince come on!" Daniel ran after the robot, along with Larmina. But Vince didn't follow.

He gasped when he heard a strange voice echo in his head, his eyes glowing. He walked away.

"Quiznak!" cursed Allura.

She was in a pit, at the bottom was fire. Blue tried to at least slowdown the fall by digging it's claws to the walls, it wasn't doing much but it was at least something. They managed to stop the fall for only a moment, which was enough the make a whole on the wall and escape.

She heard the sound of a lion walking to her but when she turned she didn't find a friend, but a lion that looked much like the one from before except smaller and it was rusty.

It immediately jumped to her and pinned her down.

They ran through a hallway.

"Pidge can you locate Lance or Allura?" asked Keith.

"The planetary convulsions are wreaking havoc with longer range communications but they're both still moving."

"Good. Let's keep a tight formation let's not let Wade separate us too."

As if on cue they encountered three identical lions, gray and rusty but smaller than the one they fought in Altea.

"What are these things?" shrieked Hunk.

"I've seen them before." said Keith "Leftovers from Wade's experiments on Black. Pidge your upgrades better be as good as advertised."

"We haven't fully tested them!" they roared.

Who knows if Keith heard, he was busy falling through the floor with the three gray lions.

The fall separated them. They growled at Keith.

"Try it." he growled back.

They jumped to him but where thrown back away by a laser.

Red landed right next to Black.

Lance sighed smugly "Guess I'm still pretty good at this team work thing"

A lion got back up, but Black dealt with them using it's tail before they could do anything.

"Me too."

A gray lion fell a their feet (or paws?).

"Just like old times, right?" said Allura.

"Ah, teamwork is so touching." said Wade "But don't you have more urgent business? I don't think this base has much longer, and neither does Coran"

"Guess we're splitting now again." said Keith.

"You're still okay Allura?"

"I'm fine, just worry about Coran"

They ran in different directions.

Vince found himself in the old room that Daniel had found the day Wade attacked Altea.

"Why?" he breathed "Why me?"

"Because," said the voice "You were born to do it"

The robot kept running and attacking the kids.

"I hate robots!" snapped Larmina.

"Really? Cuz you know you'll pilot a -?"

"You know what I mean!"

"King Alfor?" gasped Vince when he saw the specter.

"There is much to teach you, much power to unlock but I fear the threat to the castle of lions leaves us little time"

"I already know about the robot and his bomb, what do I do to stop -?"

"No, you misunderstand, the robot is the bomb"

"What?"

"What is it doing?" asked Larmina when they saw the robot stop. It's eye glowing.

"I'm pretty sure something bad"

The place was falling apart. Black ran while avoiding the pieces falling. Then stopped.

"If anyone can hear me," said Keith to the com "I've got a visual of Coran inbound"

"Already approaching" responded Lance.

"Almost there!"

"He's got a mutated lion on a keep ready to fire!"

"Then fire away I'm right on him!"

Red crashed the gray lion and Black did so too a tick later managing to tear the thing into two. They didn't notice the ceiling falling on them, immobilizing the lions. They ignored that though, they got immediately off to get to Coran.

"Almost there." said Keith slowly helping him stand up.

"Are you alright?" Lance helped too.

"I'm fine I was never Wade's target you shouldn't have come for me."

"Nah, we're actually pretty espectacular rescuers or we would be if some of us were as good at taking orders as we are giving them."

"When I tell you I'm close I-"

The station trembled again.

"Alright, trapped under debris inside a wreck in a moon that's about to implode" noted Lance as if they had somehow forgotten "You and me stuff can probably wait."

The robot digged itself to the floor.

"The robot is the bomb" said Larmina.

"And is getting ready to detonate. Go!"

Larmina tried his damnest best to get close to the robot, who kept launching missiles and other stuff at her. Daniel kept watching her back, protecting her of those she hadn't noticed. Yet they couldn't get closer to the thing.

"I-I don't understand. This power you're talking about? All I'm getting so far is headaches and Voltcom freak outs, how is that supposed to stop a robotic Coran bomb?"

"I can't show you everything, this journey is yours alone, but a can help you on to the path." he signaled to something that was there on the stage. It was a small, blue and silver, decorative lion head. He took it and it made him feel something.

"Wow"

"Looks like time's almost up." said Lance.

"I'll blast an opening in the rubble, if you time your jump right you can slip out with Red and Coran before the debris collapses back in."

"And leaving you stuck here when the moon rips apart?"

"You have any other ideas?"

"Same idea except I shoot and you jump with Coran, my tail upgrade is a faster way to fire."

"My tail has more raw power."

Lance groaned "Are we really arguing over who makes the noble sacrifice?"

"Only if you don't let me do it."

They were so busy glaring at each other they barely noticed most of the room literally freezing.

"What is -?" asked Coran.

"Allura!" called Lance.

"It's okay!" said Pidge.

"We've got your back." seconded Hunk.

"Eventually." murmured Lance.

Coran ended up in Blue with Allura. The lions ran for the exit, avoiding and destroying as much dubris as possible.

"You're not going to make it lions. I can feel Tarvols' cracking"

Well Wade was wrong and they were going to show him. It didn't took long for them to make it to the exit and flee. Except for Keith. Who got a debris to the head and fell back. It was truly fortunate that Hunk was so close and that Black got to bite Yellow's tail, which was ultimately what saved him from truly falling back and get trapped in the explosion.

They may have enjoyed seeing the moon explode.

"So," said Keith "Team bonding."

"Yeah," followed Lance "That felt good."

"You were right Lance," said Coran "It was an espectacular rescue. But how did you know I was in there?"

"We have to get back to the castle." Allura reminded them, anxious.

They just couldn't with the damn robot.

Larmina and Daniel were both on the floor.

"Can't stop it!" he grumbled.

"Vince!?" said Larmina.

He was standing there, oddly calm.

"Where have you been?" asked Daniel.

"Only I can save them." said Vince to himself, eyeing the blue head lion in his hand. Without hesitation, he logged it to his Voltcom. It immediately started glowing blue.

"We have to take cover!" said Daniel "Vince!"

Larmina was first to notice between the two. Somehow Vince was moving parts of the castle and placing them around the robot, locking it in.

When the ticking reached its highest and fastest Daniel threw himself over his friends screaming Down.

Yet the explosion didn't reach them.

A quick glance to the grumble meters from them and back to his friend.

"Vince? Buddy." he asked getting off his friends.

"What did you do?"

"I'm not sure." they got up and Vince got a look at where the robot had been "But it was awesome." he then noticed a room that had been hidden behind a -now broken- wall "What's that?"

"I-I don't know, I've never seen that door, or that room before."

"Secret room, huh?" said Daniel obviously getting an idea.

Larmina and Vince shared a knowing look.

"Larmina!" called Allura, running into the control room.

"Daniel!" called Lance "Vince!"

"Hey there," greeted Daniel "How was your day?"

"The -" started Allura.

"Robot?" finished Larmina.

"Taken care of." explained Vince.

The adults sighed in relief. Coran walked to the kids energetically.

"Hello, I believe we haven't been formally introduced." he stretched out his hand for a handshake.

"Yeah, ah, nice to meet eh, the you you" Vince took it.

"So you got a little training after all." gigled Lance.

"Oh, we learned all kinds of new things." said Daniel, sharing a look with his friends.

Chapter Text

Keith and Lance were just laying together in their bed, cuddling. They had slept in, both tired of all the work they had been doing. Lance was all over the place, Keith at his side hugging him like a body pillow, snoring slightly.

Keith was half awake, his mind rummaging the thoughts of all that had happened since he got back Black. He would have never had thought that there would come a day where they would train the next generation of paladins… How did they choose them now that he thought about it? It wasn't like when they were young, that Blue basically kidnapped them because destiny is weird like that. Wait a minute.

Keith darted up to a sitting position, waking Lance up.

"Lance. Lance."

"Mmmm?"

"You didn't kidnap them did you?"

Lance sat up to see Keith's face "What are you talking about?"

"The cadets"

Lance stared baffled at him "No. Why are you asking this now anyway?"

"I just… I guess I didn't think too much about it earlier because of the whole ordeal with this new threat and Wade and with the way we became paladins..."

Lance hugged him and kissed his head. "Don't worry it's nothing like that." he dragged Keith back to laying and cuddling in bed "We talked to Vince's mom and she left the decision to the kid who you can see agreed, and we keep her updated too." Keith mmhmmed "Daniel… well we talked to his foster family and they agreed a-a little too fast, we also talked with the orphanage he was raised in anyway and it seems they consider Daniel a… a problem child? I don't want to say 'problem child' I think, he's more like, a bit of a difficult child but... you understand me, right?"

Keith nodded "So we're technically his foster family now?"

"Legally yeah."

Keith hummed in aprobal and got comfy "Wait." he sat up again "What time is it? Aren't you supposed to be teaching?"

Lance groaned "I gave them the morning, we all deserve to rest a little. Now shut up and keep cuddling" he dragged him back down.

Keith snorted but complied.

"This is a bad idea," said Vince "We're gonna be in so much trouble after this"

They were flying Red, Black and Blue… out of Altea.

"Don't worry, what they don't know won't hurt them." he responded.

"If they don't find out that is." said Larmina, although she wasn't really that worried.

"You guys -especially you Daniel- are insane"

Both laughed.

"Is that a bad thing?" asked Daniel.

"I don't think so," said Larmina.

They were getting a little bit too away from Altea, passing by some supposed deserted planets.

"Hey, why don't we go see there?" Daniel stopped close to a purplish planet.

"It's supposed to be a desertic planet, isn't it?"

"But like, rock desert, I think." said Larmina.

"Don't remember so let's go check it out!" he flew into the planet before the others could answer, forcing them to follow.

The sky of the planet was a soft purple, the land was a darker blue and the sun looked fuschia. There weren't many plants or animals to see where they were, but there was much land to see, rocks, deserts and canyons.

They saw what almost seemed like a castle in the distance and, curious, landed in a canyon some distance away.

They approached with care to not alert whatever (or whoever) was there.

It was no castle, but it certainly was a building and there were people there (that much was obvious), how many? who knows but not that many.

"Let's go in," said Daniel.

"Bad i-"

"Let's go!" agreed Larmina.

Vince sighed in mild irritation, but followed them when they rushed to somewhere closer.

As they infiltrated they found the building to be kind of… desolated. There were aliens, but there weren't that many. They wore white armor and a gray collar thingy. They had unnerving blank stares.

"Whatever is going on here can't be good." whispered Vince.

"Let's investigate, maybe we can find something good." suggested Daniel.

"Good for what?" questioned Larmina, more alert than the boys.

"I don't know, maybe they're the ones who attacked Altea the other day?"

"I think that's a very good reason to leave now." murmured Vince.

"Maybe we can find something that could help the others and win us some points. Maybe they'll even stop treating us like children."

"I think that's a good idea."

"Of course you do, both of you are the same type of crazy."

Larmina and Daniel shrugged. They kept moving. Right here, left there, right and right again then…

"Whose children are these?" they heard a very familiar thick accent and voice "Wait a minute, you are the Voltron cubs, are you not?"

They turned around to find… Allura. They were sure that it was Allura, she had the same voice, same accent, same hair, skin, marks, eyes. But there was something really off about her and it wasn't only her tone and her words. Her outfit was a nice mix of her iconic dress and her iconic training outfit plus some armor. Her hair was up in a bun.

"I thought the Voltron paladins were smarter, but it seems I've overestimated them." she said getting ready for fighting, a pose that the kids mirrored.

"This is a bad idea." murmured Larmina.

"Yeah I said that from the start."

"Whatever, just get ready for retreat." growled Daniel.

Allura moved first, sending both Larmina and Daniel back at the same time. Vince tried and failed miserably to stand his ground. In fact, Allura immobilized them almost effortlessly.

"What a joke these Voltron cubs are. It's actually quite saddening."

She knocked them out.

"Guys." Called Pidge through the speakers "We have a problem. There's a vessel very much like the last one that attacked us coming"

Lance groaned from the bed as Keith darted up. They were so comfy!

"Let's go to the lions" said Keith after picking up his Voltcom and -along with Lance- running to the Control central.

"Two problems" they said "We're three lions short"

Lance groaned loudly, he was sure who was to blame for this.

"Your shenanigans are getting less and less cute Daniel" he said to no-one.

They had been tied up to chairs and were in a room that seemed to be a laboratory. Close to them was a table with cans and syringes and the like filled with a purple, bubbly liquid. There were a lot of other things that probably only Vince recognized because they just seemed to be the kind of thing that was supposed to be in a laboratory, and was easily going to give both Larmina and Daniel a headache.

There was a door behind them. They knew because they heard it open and someone come in, but stayed close to the door.

"So children huh."

They almost choked with their own spit. That was absolutely Lance's voice, even if it somehow sounded kind of… Younger?

"I feel a bit insulted…" Commented 'Lance' "Sending children… Even if they don't know who we are, sending children is just…."

"Hey!" called Daniel "What the -!?"

"Your Highness," oh shit that was Keith "We should go inform Her Majesty that they have awoken."

Lance seemed to muse over this a bit.

"Let me see their faces first." He walked in front of them.

Okay, yeah, this couldn't be Lance. He was clearly altean; hair white, blue marks and royal outfit. And yes, he looked basically exactly like their Lance but…

"Okay, yes, let's go tell Lura."

They ignored their indignated calls and yells and left. The door closed and they stayed quiet for about a tick.

"Okay What the quiznak?!" Shrieked Daniel.

"This is nuts!" Seconded Larmina "This is absolutely insane!"

"They…" Began Vince "They must be from some form of other reality, there… I can't think of another answer that makes sense to me"

"Whatever they are, we need to get out of here and tell the others."

"You're right, this… This is too important." Agreed Larmina.

"Yeah, but how?"

"Just give me a minute." Said Larmina, collecting herself. The boys just stared at her with curiosity.

They didn't see her move and she didn't make any noise. So of course her suddenly getting up, free, would have them amazed and confused.

"What-How?!" Stuttered Vince.

"That's amazing!" Cheered Daniel.

"I know right?" Said Larmina smugly.

She took half as long to free them. Daniel first, he dashed up and around, followed by Vince (who took a couple of cans and put them in his outfit) and Larmina. They found their Voltcoms close by.

They opened the door to try to escape and crashed with a body. The body was big and muscled, long straight white hair and purple marks under his amber eyes.

This was Lotor, wasn't he?

Larmina was the first to react, activating her Voltcom and going straight for the head. He blocked with one arm.

Next was Daniel, going for his middle and managing to land a hit.

They rushed past him as fast as they could. They ran through random hallways, hopeful of finding the exit. Which they didn't. But they did find a window.

"No" growled Vince, knowing full well what the others were thinking.

"Got any other ideas?" Said Daniel.

"We're gonna die." He commented.

"Whatever let's just-" she silenced herself by breaking the window.

"Okay guys, grab onto me." Ordered Daniel. Larmina and Vince did as told without protest "Now, on the count of three-"

"STOP RIGHT THERE YOU LITTLE -"

"JUMP"

It might not be as high as they thought, but still it would be enough to break a couple of bones. Lucky them for Daniel's Voltcom.

He activated it, launched the claws and stopped their fall fairly close to the floor. He grunted in pain, that hurt like shit, he probably at least tore a muscle…

Larmina and Vince landed on their feet, Daniel deactivated his Voltcom and let himself fall on his back.

Larmina and Vince helped him up, and Larmina picked him up on her shoulder like a sack of potatoes before starting running again, dragging Vince along.

They were breathless when they arrived at the lions.

"How are you supposed to fly?" Said Vince, very much stressed "I'm sure you must've dislocated a shoulder."

"This was a bad idea." Lamented Larmina.

"Whatever, don't worry, I'm sure the Lions have some kind of autopilot, right? They have gone for their paladins without any pilot, right?"

"I-I guess?" Stuttered Larmina.

"Get to your lions," ordered Daniel "Don't worry, we'll be fine." He assured them.

Larmina and Vince shared a worried look but did as told.

Hunk and Pidge were in their lions.

The invasion this time wasn't a big ship, but several smaller ones that adapted to fight on the floor, much like tanks. Pidge and Hunk were taking care of them while Lance and Keith fought with their fists on land, they had brought soldiers. The fight wasn't that hard, after all, their enemies weren't that difficult to destroy, the problem was that they were… a lot. Allura was back at the castle with Coran, using the castle's defences as back up.

Keith was on the floor, a soldier on top of him. The white armour and white collar were familiar but the pain of his head hitting the floor wasn't helping him find the memory, he got the soldier off of him with a kick.

Lance, on the other hand, after breaking some noses with his fists, had split his bayard into a pair of pistols, allowing him to fight both close and long range, though he tried to keep the long range.

Keith managed to get to hsi area, and, back to back, he commented with a small smirk "I was wondering when you were going to stop showing off with your fists, and start showing off with your guns"

Changing the shape of his bayard again, Lance winked at him "You know me, I'm here to entertain"

Then their eyes widened.

"WATCH OUT" they yelled at the same time, both attacking in opposite directions. Lance with his gun and Keith with his sword.

"How's everyone?" asked Allura through the coms.

She concentrated on backing up Pidge and Hunk, while Coran helped Keith and Lance.

The answer was immediate.

Keith "Good"

Lance "As fine as can be"

Pidge "All good for now "

Hunk "Could be better"

Then Keith added "Is it just me or do these guys look familiar?"

"Brilliant minds think alike," snorted Lance, though he didn't sound very amused.

"Can't say I've paid much attention to their looks," said Hunk.

Pidge backed his comment "We've just seen their ships after all, and with the boom of Altean aesthetics it is hard to tell where exactly these come from."

Hunk "Yeah, they look kind of generic"

Allura looked at the soldier through the cameras "They do seem familiar..."

"WAIT" screeched Lance "I remember now FU-" he shot a massive soldier that had Keith up in the air from his arm, Keith fell back but got up quickly "I remember now! Remember that time we got on that old Altean ship that had been looking for the-the- Remember Sven! And the other Slav!"

"THE OTHER DIMENSION!" finalised the rest.

"Yeah! KEITH-"

Keith had been thrown back by a shot to the chest, he would have died if it wasn't for his armor.

Lance rushed to his side, helping him up, he did his best to keep the brainwashed soldiers at a distance, but they were soon tackled to the ground by an especially big one, managing to land over Keith protectively, Lance shot the soldier on the head. They might be victims of the alternative Alteans, but he wasn't taking risks.

He was alarmed for a moment when a gigantic shadow appeared over them, but calmed down if just a little when he saw it was one of their missing lions, and a familiar voice sounded through the coms.

"Lance, I'm sorry, it's all my-"

"I know, We'll have time for that later, hurry down to pick up Keith and me."

"Why is he apologizing only to you?" murmured Keith, coming back to himself. Lance gave him a short, amused, smile, before glaring at the kids in the lions. Larmina in Blue, Vince in Red and Daniel in Black.

Once in the cockpits, they ordered the cadets.

"Move over"

Meanwhile, Larmina in Blue.

"Where's aunt Lura?"

"Castle," she replied, furious "I want you backing us up with the Castle's defenses, so hurry up Larmina"

They changed positions as quickly as possible, and finally, all paladins and lions were present and ready to save the day.

They formed Voltron.

But it wouldn't be that easy.

As if waiting for this, the ships changed tactics, attacking with the strange purple energy the spider had had. Weakening Voltron and immobilizing it.

"What the-!" screeched Lance.

Another ship, the biggest of them all, got close to Voltron's head, threatening with what seemed to be a gigantic electric saw.

"THAT, WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THAT?" cried Hunk.

The distance was closed, and the screech of metal against metal deafened them.

"KEITH? KEITH?" called Lance.

"This can't be happening!" added Allura.

Lance kept calling Keith in alarm, until he noticed an electric glow behind him. He looked back at Vince, mouth open and eyes wide.

"Vince?"

Then that same electricity ran from Vince to the rest of Voltron, liberating it from its enemies, but alarming everyone all the same.

"Guys? What's happening?" finally said Keith.

"Ah..."

"Lance?" questioned Keith.

"Uhm… did you know that Vince glows?"

"Wha-?"

Pidge was interrupted by Voltron reactivating.

Following instinct, Lance activated his bayard with Voltron, like he had done in limited times before. A pair of guns appeared in Red and Green's maws, but more gun-like weapons appeared on its shoulders, several targets were locked, and fire-like energy was shot, ending their enemies.

"We did it!" celebrated Daniel in the heat of the moment, but became meek at Keith's glare "Mainly you, of course."

"How's everyone?" asked Hunk.

"Vince passed out but he's breathing" informed Lance. The rest were alright.

Once settled back in the castle, and healing the cadets, the children were dealt with.

"Out of every reckless! childish! thoughtless thing you could have done!" roared Allura "You were taught better than this Larmina."

"I'm sorry, it was my fault," said Daniel "I just…" he looked down "I just wanted to be treated like one of you"

Lance sighed loudly, unhappy.

"You are one of us," explained Keith "But what you all did..."

Lance "We can't have you going off like you did"

Then Vince interrupted, "Would it make you slightly less mad if I told you the mission was a success?"

"Oh," glared Allura "So this was a mission now?"

Vince took out the contained purple thingy. Pidge immediately took it.

"Is that-?" asked Hunk.

"Also!" added Larmina "We found the identity of the enemy, they-!"

"We know who they are," said Keith "They are from the Altean Empire, from another dimension."

"So you know the Altean Lance?" wondered Daniel.

That took the paladins by surprise "What now?"

"Yeah," continued Vince "Allura was the Empress, and Lance was an Altean Prince, Keith was also there but we didn't see him, tho, from what he said I assume he was something like Altean Lance's personal guard or something..."

Allura gave Keith and Lance a side glance "Thats..."

"Different from what we encountered that one time..." finished Hunk.

Allura inhaled deeply and exhaled after holding it almost a minute "We'll deal with that… after dealing with you kids"

The cadets stared up at the dirty lions with pained expressions.

"A more… adult punishment," mocked Lance "And, you get to spend time alone time with the lions! is everything you asked for, how does it feel?"

"Great" groaned Daniel, before they all got to their new duty.

Chapter Text

There's always calm after the storm, after having reinforced the defences, life continued with relative calm, after all, they were always ready for the next attack.

Classes for the cadets continued, without crazy shenanigans for now, after all, even they understood the gravity of their last stunt, even if they would rather not deal with the consequences. They really didn't like cleaning duty.

It was one of those extra tranquil days that a friendly ship arrived.

As requested, Acxa, Veronica, Ezor, Zethrid and Krolia, had arrived as soon as possible for them. Having been briefed they went straight to business.

"So far they only seem interested in Altea and Voltron, and, to be honest, I don't want a conflict on the scale of the past war, nor the panic that it would cause, after all, it really hasn't been that long," said Allura.

"Word needs to come out still, although their sight might be set on Altea right now, we know too little about this new threat, we cannot let our allies be ignorant of this, leaving them unprotected," explained Allura.

"We can talk to our allies, let them know the situation so they can prepare, but also insist they keep it secret; for now. This all will end up coming out, whether we want it or not but maybe we can help the general population avoid the extra stress," added Veronica.

Zethrid spoke next "Still, I think we should have the general public know, they could still put themselves in danger due to ignorance, even if they have others secretly protecting them."

Ezor nodded in agreement.

"What about having some rumours scattered?" inquired Lance "People will notice the changes anyway, they will start their own rumours, so why not let the truth be the first?"

"It isn't a secret that Altea has already been attacked anyway," seconded Keith. "That's how we protected ourselves from the consequences of reactivating Voltron"

Lance continued "Yeah, there must be some rumours about what's happening already."

After talking more specifics and agreeing on a general plan for how to proceed, everyone decided to relax and take the day.

Lunch was a big affair.

A table had been filled to the brim with food and beverage for everyone to eat together.

"So," Krolia said with a small smile, studying the children with her gaze "Cadets?"

"How come you didn't tell us about this?" complained playfully Ezor, seated between Pidge and Zethrid.

"I knew," declared Veronica "Lance told me."

"I knew too," seconded Acxa "Veronica told me."

Ezor and Zethrid stared at their friends with betrayal. This was important news! Why had nobody had the decency to tell them?

"So?" repeated Krolia.

The cadets felt a little awkward, all in all, these were important figures deeply connected to Voltron, yet not even Larmina had formally met them. Allura was happy to make the introductions.

"This is my niece, Larmina, and you'll find that she excels in physical activities such as acrobatics," she helped Larmina take the seat next to herself and then moved to the next "This is Vince, he has very strange abilities that we're still exploring,"

"His eyes glow sometimes," added Keith casually, earning the kid's confusion and looks of interest.

Vince sat next to Larmina.

"And this is Daniel, a fast learner of inquisitive nature," she sat him next to Vince.

"And a natural leader," said Lance "Although he tends to lead the little group to mischief more than anything, still, he is a good kid." Keith nodded in agreement.

"Seems fun, but how does this all work anyway?" asked Ezor "You brought the kids but aren't the lions the ones who choose their pilots?"

"Well, we were looking for cadets anyway," mused Allura "Whether the lions chose them or not wasn't that important. New Altea is still rebuilding itself, and I want to teach the young the old ways, so they won't be lost forever. Then Destiny made Lance meet and bring Vince and Daniel, and we discovered soon enough that the lions would let them pilot them."

"Which can be a little inconvenient but, overall, a good thing," finished Lance, then he snorted, remembering their first little adventure "In fact let me tell you about -"

The rest of the meal was spent sharing stories, at first, focused on the cadets, embarrassing them from time to time but also letting them add their own two cents, then, to the kid's excitement, it was time to share the adult's old adventures. From how they ended up as paladins, to how they got Kaltenecker the First, how Keith and Krolia reunited and many more memories.

"And he goes 'I'd recognize that mullet anywhere'," mocked Pidge "Which is like, the worst excuse ever."

Keith chortled "Why hadn't I been told about this," he laughed even more at Lance's flushed face "That just makes everything even funnier."

The cadets listened in delight. They were getting these stories from the source material! It was awesome!

Keith kept mocking Lance, imitating him as he said "'You know? Lance and Keith, neck and neck'"

"How do you even remember that?" screeched Lance.

"How could I not?"

Snickering, Hunk told Daniel "Don't let Keith scold you over your little shenanigans, he was pulling worst stunts from the beginning,"

"Hey!" complained Keith.

"Give the kid some slack," laughed Pidge "You were the one that was kicked out of-"

"Shiro was so angry," he put his face in his hands.

"Don't worry Keith, I'll scold him for you," said Lance with a smile and a wink, making the others laugh.

They stayed almost hours after finishing eating just to keep talking.

Of course, their guests didn't leave immediately and stayed for a couple of days, though they tried to not disrupt much of the normalcy of their daily lives.

Lance invited them to help him in some of the classes, noting that they would definitely have useful things to teach the cadets, be it theory or practice. They also worked with the other on more planning and investigating the purple matter.

They had also started to work with only Vince, to help test his strange abilities and help him develop them, though, during this time, they wouldn't leave the other two to their own devices, yet, having been rebuilding the lost trust from their last stunt, they were given back a little more freedom.

So of course they would use it again. After all, just assisting Vince's training from the castle was boring.

After having formed Voltron, with Vince accompanying Keith in the Black Lion, they would have him try to use his newfound special powers, which, apart from having unlocked new weapons, could recharge Voltron's energy to its max, and, in light of such news, there must be more o uncover.

All this while fighting the fake fiends they created for training purposes.

It was still a work in progress…

Pidge tried to contact Daniel and Larmina, who were supposed to be in the castle's defences to provide backup. But there was no response, which was a problem since Voltron was starting to run out of energy. They had been at this for a while.

Later, Daniel and Larmina were found messing around with the smaller draining dummies. "Watching is boring" had been their excuse, along with other minor complaints.

Needles to say, the responsible adults had been infuriated.

Allura had never been so close to smacking Larmina on the head.

Lance and Keith dealt with Daniel.

Glaring down at the kid, Keith scolded, "Before you make decisions that affect the team you need to learn to be a team player."

Lance followed "Daniel, I try to make training fun but this isn't a game"

The guests watched with varying degrees of amusement.

Most left the adults to scold their kids, but after watching for what felt like an hour, Krolia stood between Lance and Keith, each hand on their shoulders, and, on Daniel's behalf, said, "I think that's enough for today,"

"Mom"

"I think the kid understands your points, give them some time to reflect,"

Knowing to never miss an opportunity, Daniel nodded in agreement, and when his guardians decided to let him go, he rushed past Allura and Larmina and out of the room.

They would talk later.

Finally down in their little liar, Larmina sighed loudly.

"Sometimes my aunt can be so annoying,"

"I can't believe Lance and Keith are giving me lectures on teamwork," he sat up from where he was resting on the stairs, "Those two are always arguing,"

"Well, at least we have a secret place to complain about them,"

"Yeah, but I can't help but feel that we could be using the liar for something more important than a whine whole,"

"Welp," said Vince "I'm going to be spending a lot of time down here trying to figure out how to control my powers," he kept tinkering with his Voltcom, he groaned "I can't believe I let everyone down today"

Daniel, "Must be though being the golden boy,"

Larmina "Jealousy doesn't look good on you,"

Daniel turned to her, mildly offended "I'm not jealous, I just-"

"Look, Daniel, I didn't choose this power, it chose me,"

"Aand, you're sounding more and more like my aunt,"

The discussion continued the next day, out of the liar and having breakfast on their own, it started to sound more like an argument in comparison to the day before.

"Yeah sure, so Vince is cool now, but like, why can't we pilot the lions once in a while?" complained Daniel "You have your role magic man, but where do Larmina and I fit into this puzzle?"

"Destiny is unfolding," argued Vince back "We need patience"

"There you go again, Aunt Allura,"

"I mean, just cuz you have aunty issues-"

Daniel groaned loudly "All of our issues boil down to five lions and eight pilots,"

"Even if there are eight pilots the paladins are still only five," interrupted Acxa.

The kids jumped in surprise, not expecting someone else to suddenly appear and give their opinion. Daniel pouted.

Acxa and Veronica were there, the latter softly hit the former with her elbow as if to scold her.

"You are being prepared to become paladins, but not yet, not without your own workable team, even if the lions have shown that they are open to you to pilot them, that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll choose you as their paladins, though that isn't likely. And due to the nature of how Voltron teams work, the paladins can't just leave for you to take their place, you are only three, there must be five paladins, and even if some of them were to leave, you all would have to from cero again, trying to make a team that is capable of forming Voltron and be functional." explained Acxa "As for Vince, he is still an unknown variable, and although his powers seem to be good for Voltron, too little is known of them, which is dangerous for everyone, even Vince himself."

"Alright, that's enough explaining," said Veronica "What you need is some fun, a relaxing and entertaining afternoon. I actually talked to Lance, and he'll let you have today free for you to do as you wish, but I think I have an idea." she smiled smugly.

"I still don't get why we haven't had Pidge and Hunk make something to do the cleaning for us," complained Lance, as he, along with Allura, cleaned the old pods "Or have these things wash themselves, I don't know,"

"I've found that I find cleaning to be rather, therapeutic, for me,"

Lance sighed in defeat, with nothing much to say to that. So they continued cleaning in relative silence, Allure humming old altean songs, until they were interrupted by a loud and short scream, Hunk from the kitchen.

"Should we-?" asked Allura.

Lance stretched in a hurry "I'll check on him, you continue," and left.

A little hesitant, Allura went back to cleaning the inside of the pod. Suddenly, it closed, locking her inside it, she was about to scream for help when she was frozen in stasis.

When Lance arrived at the kitchen it looked absolutely disgusting, the floor and walls painted with the edible green goo. Hunk was on the floor, bathed in it, he was glaring at the ceiling. Zethrid sat at the table, her face green and unamused.

"I guess a malfunction?" asked Lance.

"I've never felt such a strong sense of deja vu, and I don't think I like it."

Allura was freed from the pod by Ezor, who caught the shaking princess in her arms.

"Wow, what happened?" she asked.

"Pod… locked…Probable...malfunction..."

"Don't you do some maintenance once in a while?"

"Not...sure...usually...Coran...care of...it..."

"Alright, let's go get you warmed up and then go ask Coran."