Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“What the quiznak is that?” Hunk asked.

“What? What’s what?” Pidge inquired.

“Oh… uh… is that normal?” Lance looked worried.

“What? What is it?” Pidge tipped her head in Lance’s direction.

“It looks kinda fizzy…” Keith mused.

“Fizzy? Like soda? Or baking soda meeting vinegar?” Pidge bounded over to Keith.

“It looks familiar. Like Allura’s.” Shiro added.

“Okay, now I’m confused.” She scrunched up her face. “And I was confused earlier.”

“Yeah, but it’s a different colour.” Chip pointed out.

“Will someone tell me what the hell is going on!” Pidge shouted, startling the others. She was then picked up by her shoulders by Regris, the male rocking her a bit.

Katie Pidge Gunderson-Holt was blind, her form of blindness leaving her in visual nothingness; she couldn’t even detect light visually, relying on other senses to know if it’s daylight out on a planet or if lights are on in the castle. And hearing the others talk about what they saw without actually telling her was frustrating.

“It’s okay, they were just caught up, they didn’t mean to ignore you.” Regris set Pidge down. “And it looks like a wormhole. But… not like the ones Allura makes.”

“Yeah. It’s, well…. Like Keith said. Fizzy.” Hunk stated.

“Which… uh… doesn’t mean much to me?” Pidge pointed out. “At least not visually.”

“Okay, then… uh… yeah!” Hunk got an idea. “Okay, think of Allura’s wormhole like cotton candy. Soft. Fluffy.” Pidge nodded with a small mm-hmm . “Okay, this one is like pop rocks then.”

“Fizzy.” Pidge snapped her finger. “Got it! Makes sense now.”

“And its colour is actually more… green lion coloured.” Hunk went further with the explanation. “Instead of blue lion like Allura’s wormholes. Plus, it almost looks like circuits.”

“Oh. Okay then.” Pidge nodded. “It’s definitely different.” She looked over in a direction. “Coran, Allura, is it possible for wormholes to look different?”

“Over here, Number Five.” Coran pointed out, getting Pidge to turn to his direction. “And, actually, yes. While this doesn’t look like one I’ve seen in my time, it is possible for wormholes to differ. In fact, it’s entirely normal. You see-”

“Which she can’t.” Matt hummed. Everyone looked to him. “What? I wanted to beat Pidge to the sass.”

“I actually appreciate it.” Pidge chuckled.

“Thanks.” Matt grinned.

“Anyway,” Coran sounded a little amused, “Alteans who can open wormholes give off different energies that lead to different styles and colours of wormholes. In fact, the princess’ is much like that of King Alfor’s wormholes in design, but his were more pink in colour. Perhaps in relation to him being the red paladin previously.” He nodded. “Though this one… I’ve not seen one before look like a circuit…”

“It could be an Altean, though.” Allura said, hope glistening in her eyes. “It’s been a thousand deca-phoebs, maybe wormhole designs have changed with time.”

“So… does that mean we wait for them to come through?” Lance asked. “Or is this them setting out the welcome mat?”

“We should be cautious.” Shiro reminded. “We have no idea who formed this and how. Or if they’re a friend or foe.”

“I’m afraid I have to agree with Shiro on that one.” Coran admitted. “They would need a teludav in order to form a wormhole. And making those is an old art and you need scaultrite to help it activate.”

“But Coran, what if an Altean did find this way? Or even have access to an old ship or base?” Allura didn’t want to let the chance slip her by. “We need to investigate.”

“Is there a way to scan it and figure out where it leads?” Pidge suggested.

“Unfortunately, no.” Coran shook his head. “And that’s not for lack of trying.”

“Then why don’t we check it out ourselves?” Allura was insistent on going through the wormhole.

“But what if it’s a trap?” Keith asked, siding with Shiro on the caution.

“Then we take the lions. They’ll act as both identification and that we’re not a threat to them but also as defense if they attack.” Allura pointed out. “But I doubt it’ll be a problem. I’m sure that any Altean opening a wormhole for us is on our side.”

Shiro sighed. He knew better than to argue with the ladies on the team. Pidge and Allura both were as stubborn as could be. And he couldn’t really deny it, he was also curious about the wormhole “Okay then. But we’ll proceed with caution. First sign of trouble, then we turn back.”

“Yes!” Allura cheered. “Alteans here I come!” She looked excited. “So who do I ride with? Pidge has Regris and Chip’s taken to accompanying Hunk.”

“You ca-” Lance started to speak.

“Keith, perhaps I can fly with you?” Allura completely ignored the blue paladin. “Flying in the red lion intrigues me since my father used to fly it.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine by me.”

“Oh c’mon! Blue’s cool!” Lance whined. He sighed when Matt put an arm around his shoulder.

“C’mon, Lance, don’t fret.” Matt hummed. “If you’re lonely, then I can ride with you!”

“Oh great, someone who likes puns…” Lance sighed. “You know what? Why not? Let’s do this!”

“If there are no issues, I’ll attend as well.” Ulaz stated.

“You can ride with me then.” Shiro nodded. “Okay, team, let’s suit up and get going.”

Pidge and Regris headed out to the green lion’s hangar, Rover hovering right behind them. When they got there, they heard a whine and nails clacking against the hard floor.

“Bae Bae. No girl.” Pidge said. “We can’t take you with us. What if it’s a threat instead?”

Bae Bae whined. She then headbutted Pidge with a sort of helmet. She really wanted to go.

“And if it’s not a threat?” Regris asked. “She’s got a suit with her, too. Where she got it…”

“Lance probably made it. Or Altean stuff really is self-adjusting.” Pidge sighed, but she couldn’t help the grin on her face. “Okay, fine then. But Bae Bae, if there’s trouble, stay out of the way, okay? I can’t let you get hurt.” She stood up. “C’mon, girl. And Regris, can you help put her in the suit to make sure she’s safe?”

“Of course.” Regris nodded as he went into the lion behind Pidge. While Pidge got ready and took off, joining up with the others, he easily got the protective garb on, having seen Lance and Chip dress the bull terrier plenty of times.

“Okay, guys, hopefully this is a peaceful trip.” Pidge informed as she joined up with the other lions. “I’ve got precious cargo on board.”

“Pidge, I hope this doesn’t mean what a part of my over protective brother side fears.” Matt commented.

“No, Matt, it doesn’t mean that.” Pidge chuckled. “We’ve got Bae Bae. She insisted on joining us.”

“You brought her?” Shiro asked. “Pidge…”

“Hey, maybe whoever is on the other side likes dogs, too.” Hunk suggested.

“Yeah, people tend to love dogs. And Bae Bae is super lovable.” Lance commented.

“Fine, fine, she can come along for the ride.” Shiro sighed. “Okay guys, let’s go. We’ll stay in lion formation to be less of a threat for the time being.” He then took the lead, heading into the wormhole. “Pidge, Regris, keep an eye on the scanners and the lions’ health.”

“Copy that.” Regris said, quickly covering Pidge’s mouth to avoid the sass. He then pulled away when she licked him.

“Hunk, once on the other side, check for bio-” Shiro was cut off when the lions were suddenly shaking and a sort of static filled them. “What the heck? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” Allura admitted. “This isn’t normal. Coran, do you copy? Coran?” Nothing. No Coran, Chief, or Haxus back at the castle.

“Pidge, Regris, status report!” Shiro ordered.

“I don’t know.” Regris responded, checking the lion’s systems. “I don’t know what is going on. There’s a strange energy reading, but I can’t identify it.”

“There’s an odd feeling to this, too. Like… static, but it doesn’t sound like it’s messing with our power, good or bad.” Pidge reported. “It almost feels like the corrupted wormhole that threw us apart after saving Allura a while back, but less… uh… less mean?” She panicked. “Look, I don’t know how it feels alike and different, but that’s what it feels like.”

“Pidge, breathe.” Shiro told her. “Bae Bae, comfort her! And team, let’s just try and stay together.”

Bae Bae barked and jumped up a bit, putting her front paws on Pidge to comfort her girl.

Try as hard as they might, staying together was easier said than done. Like the wormhole that got corrupted a while back, the team was thrown off into different directions.

On the other side, Coran was monitoring the wormhole. “What the quiznak?” His eyes widened.

“Uh, Coran, is that there wormhole ‘sposed ta be flickerin’?” Chief inquired.

“No, it’s not.” Coran shook his head. “All energy readings show that it’s destabilizing, but I don’t know by what.”

“Team, do you copy?” Haxus called through the comms. “Pidge? Ulaz! Respond?” There was nothing but static. He then watched as the wormhole disappeared. “Oh no…”

“Where’d they go?” Chief asked. “Can we track ‘em?”

“I’m trying to track the lions.” Coran informed. “But they aren’t showing up.” He sighed. “But don’t worry, we’re not giving up.”

“Yeah.” Chief nodded. He let out a soft sight. “Y’all be safe. Wherever yer at.”

-+-+-+-

“Ow… what the fu-”

“Pidge.”

“Fudge. What the fudge.” Pidge blinked. “And why are you calling me out on that?”

“Because Shiro told me to.” Regris responded. “Anyway… are you ok-” He stopped. “You know, maybe you should consider full helmet. Every time you crash, this seems to happen.”

Pidge sighed as she sniffled a bit; she ended up smacking her lips. “Great. Nosebleed again. It’ll stop soon enough.” She checked on the lion. “Good news, though, we actually didn’t lose power this time.”

“Bad news, though, it looks like we landed near a city.”

“Aw shit… I hope no one was here where we landed…”

“I’ll see if I can get any biorhythms.” Regris informed. “Hopefully no one was there…” He looked ahead, seeing something land nearby and in front of them. “Um… I think I hit my head, too. I may be hallucinating. I see two lions. Yellow and green. And… uh… you’re in green and that’s not Hunk’s yellow lion.”

“If you’re hallucinating then so is Green. ‘cuase, uh…” Pidge blinked. “We’re seeing the same thing. Oh boy.”

Chapter Text

“Remarkable! This is absolutely amazing!” Darrell Pidge Stoker looked in awe at his brother’s work. Chip had been working on a transportation system. Or rather one to make transport quicker.

Wormholes.

“And,” Chip hummed as he shifted his glasses, “our initial tests of sending drones through have worked well.” He grinned, proud of the work done. “We’ll be running tests with unmanned ships today, too.”

“Man,” Hunk smiled brightly, “this is so cool! And before long we’ll be using them, right? That means we can get around the universe more for more wide spread defending!”

“Well, it’ll take more trials and tweaking, but that’s the goal.” Chip informed. “And it’ll help in getting supplies to planets who need them.” He grinned. “You guys will stick for the test, right?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything!” Pidge exclaimed, looking excited.

“Good. Then we gotta get this booted up to warm up; hopefully by the time it’s ready for full time use and out of testing, it won’t need as much to warm up.” Chip worked with the systems, communicating with other Baltons at the base to make sure everything was ready. “We’ll also need to set up the destination. You kinda need the point A and point B coordinates.”

“Logical, of course.” Pidge nodded.

“We have an outpost we’ve been coordinating with, so we’ve got that going for us.” Chip informed. “In time, we’ll work on other locations. Of course, currently we’re needing warp gates made to keep the wormholes stabilized, but who knows, in a matter of years, we might even be able to find a way to create them without the gates. Just, a wormhole any time, any place.”

“That would be so neat.” Hunk beamed. He then jumped when the alarms went off. “Uh… that doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s not.” Chip went to the systems, checking them over. “Something is intercepting our wormhole signal.”

“What?” Pidge looked alarmed. He went to help his brother. “But given this tech, it shouldn’t be possible.”

“You think it’s Lotor? Or Maahox? Maahox is smart enough for that, right?” Hunk asked.

“I don’t know, but something is coming through.” Pidge looked to see the wormhole flicker before something shot out of it, crashing through part of Balto’s ring and right into the planet. “That’s not good. Chip, do we have eyes in the area?”

“Working on it.” Chip spoke up. “Zenma Alpha, do you copy? This is Chip Stoker.”

“Read you loud and clear, Stoker.” came a voice. “We just dispatched a team to whatever crashed; preliminary observations identified it as a potential ship.”

“Drule related?”

“Uncertain at this point.”

“Right, keep me updated.” Chip ordered.

It didn’t take long for the investigation team to get in touch. The commander there gave the report. “Good news is this location has been under construction, so it’s minimally inhabited. We’ve begun evacuations thought to be safe.”

“That’s good.” Chip nodded. “What do you see?”

“We’re coming up on the impact zone and-”

“Sir, you’re uh… um… I uh…” someone else spoke. “This doesn’t seem right?”

Chip was confused. He then looked when live feed was sent, a video of what was obviously a mechanical green lion lying on the ground. But it looked different from Pidge’s lion. “Uh… that’s not normal?” Chip asked.

“It could be Wade.” Pidge stated.

“But he was arrested.” Hunk reminded.

“Yeah, but remember how easily people turned against Voltron five years ago? He could have supporters. Or maybe even Maahox found a way to utilize Wade’s lions.”

“That actually makes sense now.” Hunk nodded. “Do we call the team?”

“Not yet.” Pidge shook his head. “Hunk, get to your lion; we’re going out to investigate it.”

“Right!” Hunk nodded and ran off, heading for his lion.

Pidge went to get to his lion, but Chip stopped him. “I’m going with you.” Chip stated.

“Chip…”

“Pidge, you may need help. And I want to be there to back you up.”

Pidge smiled. “Okay, then let’s go.” He then took off, heading down to his lion, his twin on his trail. Once they were ready, they took off, heading out to where the other lion crashed. By the time they landed, evacuations were complete. If things got rough, then hopefully civilians wouldn’t get hurt.

They then watched as the lion got up, raising to its paws, as though to test itself after the crash. The lion then turned its attention on them, seeming to study them.

“Okay. Uh… it’s just staring at us.” Hunk pointed out. “Do we poke it?”

“Hunk, why do you want to poke every potentially dangerous thing?” Pidge inquired.

“Because I’m curious.”

“Lance put it best. You do remember what curiosity killed, right?”

“Yeah, but Pidge, the follow up to curiosity killed the cat is but satisfaction brought it back.” Chip reminded.

“So… do we poke it?” Hunk prompted.

“No.” The twin responded.

“But I am scanning it. And…” Chip looked at the data. “Remarkable. It’s not any tech I recognize. Drule, Earth, Arusian, Balton. Not even the new Drule stuff that Maahox has been working with. And it’s energy is remarkable and not too different from your lions; it’s not identical, but it’s similar enough. And unlike anything I’ve seen. And this elemental signature isn’t one we know anyone in the known universe. It’s amazing.” He blinked. “And… I don’t think it’s a simple robot with an AI or even a robeast.”

“So… a potential ship?” Pidge finished.

“That’s the only option I can think of.” Chip nodded.

“A ship means a potential pilot. And possible comms.” Pidge stated. “Attention pilot of the, uh, other green lion. This is Pidge, pilot of the green lion of the Voltron Force. Identify yourself and state your business.” He waited, but there was nothing but static. “Their comms could be down.”

“It’s possible that we’re not on the same channel, too.” Chip informed. “Or they don’t want to get in touch.”

“Okay then.” Pidge nodded. “Ready to poke a lion, Hunk?”

“Right on, buddy!” Hunk cheered. He then lunged his lion forward, making it pounce at the other green lion, trying to bite into the shield on its back. As he did that, Pidge utilized his lion’s tail weapon, flinging shuriken-like blades at the larger lion.

For a few seconds, the green lion didn’t do anything. Then its eyes lit up and it moved, actually flinging the yellow lion off its back and jumping to the side to avoid the shuriken-like weapons. It then crouched down, ready to pounce the attackers.

“Oh yeah, I think it’s ready to fight now.” Hunk actually grinned. “Okay, here kitty kitty!” He then charged at the bigger green lion, getting swatted at and knocked over. “Ooh, tough guy, huh?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Hunk.” Pidge reminded with a slight chuckle. “And let’s keep it from moving to another sector.”

“Copy that, buddy.” Hunk nodded. He then blinked when the lion vanished right in front of them. It didn’t jump out of the way and it wasn’t flying. He turned the lion, checking his surroundings. “Uh… guys?”

“Whoa, it totally cloaked itself!” Chip exclaimed. “Like our chameleon suits!”

“Yeah, but I’m not getting a read on it.” Pidge pointed out. “It completely hid its presence.” He nodded. “Okay, Hunk, tail to tail!”

“On it! Got’cher six!” Hunk put his tail to Pidge’s, keeping an eye on their surroundings. Ground. Air. Anywhere it could try to hide. Whoever was piloting it, it was definitely proving to be tricky and skilled.

Chip was reading the signatures, hoping to find a flaw in the cloaking or for it to show itself. Then it did. But it was too late and unexpected. When the lion put down the cloaking, it was different. A different lion? The shield was no longer there; instead, it was a cannon, ready and aimed at them.

“No!” Pidge called. He moved and shoved Hunk’s lion away. The cannon then fired, hitting the green lion but missing the yellow one. Vines grew around the lion, even damaging and breaking part of its exterior. More than that, though, Pidge couldn’t move. “I can’t move my lion.”

“I’ve got ya, buddy!” Hunk pounced over and had his lion bite into the vines. They were sturdy, though, and not giving way. “Uh, this may take longer than expected.”

“Hunk! Look out!” Chip called, hoping to alert his friend in time. Nope. The green lion tackled him instead, knocking him down. “Damn… okay… Pidge, that thing’s a ship. There’s a pilot. We can go in and stop them!”

“May be our best bet since we can’t move my lion.” Pidge nodded. “Hunk, can you try and keep their focus on you? Chip and I are going in and stopping this at the source.”

“Way ahead of you, buddy; they’re already focused on me!” Hunk responded. “You guys be careful!”

“Will do!” Pidge confirmed. He then left the green lion, heading out to sneak into the other lion. It wasn’t too terribly hard for them to find their way in, forcing open a hatch at the chest area and getting into the hold. “Now, time to find the pilot. Probably the head if it’s anything like our lions.”

-+-+-+-

“Team? Team, do you copy?” Katie Pidge Holt called. “Guys, we’re under attack! Lance? Hunk? Shiro? Keith?” Katie felt her lion shake as she tussled with the other yellow lion. “Okay, this is not good. And I can’t get into the comms to tell them I’m not the enemy. Or maybe they’re the enemy instead?” She then stopped, feeling something instead. “Regris, intruders. In the hold.”

“I’ll take care of them.” Regris assured. He then went off to the cargo hold, finding two people, one dressed in ninja attire, as he learned from Lance, the other in a green and black flight suit. He then drew the blade from his back. “I suggest you leave the way you came. And call off this fight.”

“Yeah? You first.” Pidge said, ready to fight Regris as he activated his voltcom. He wasted no time in getting into the battle, hoping to take down the tailed alien. But Regris wasn’t without his experience and skills.

Regris was a member of the Blade of Marmora. He had trained for most of his life, preparing for when he’d go on missions. He was prepared, both for hacking and for physical work. But even he had to admit that his opponents were skilled. But he wasn’t deterred, even using his tail to snag the one in green and fling him to the side and into some of the storage crates that were there, causing them to topple down on top of him.

“Pidge!” Chip shouted, hoping he was okay.

“Huh?” Regris twitched his tail. Pidge? But she was up front. Did that person he fling have the same nickname? What were the odds? Regris didn’t get to think of them much as the ninja went at him next. He was led into fighting the ninja one on one and he realized something.

He was adaptable.

This ninja was quick to learn. The longer Regris fought him, the more he was learning his skills and tactics. He had to finish this fast before the petite figure got the upper hand.

Unfortunately, Chip got the Blade manipulated and threw him off, shoving him into a wall head first. Regris hadn’t lost consciousness, but he was definitely dazed; he stayed down until he could regain himself. With that, the ninja went over to check his twin.

“Pidge, you okay?” Chip asked, shoving crates away. Pidge just groaned as he slowly sat up. “Okay, take it easy, bro. I think there’s still the pilot, so I’m gonna take them down; the other guy is out like a light.” He offered a smile. “Just catch your breath.” He got up.

“Chip, don’t.” Pidge mumbled, trying to get up, but he felt dizy.

Regris blinked, not yet raising his head. Pidge? Chip? Something was definitely off.

“Don’t worry, this won’t take long.” Chip assured. “Just rest.” He then ran off, going through the door Regris came from. He then entered the cockpit, seeing the pilot there. Time to stop them once and for all.

Chapter Text

“Regris, do you copy?” Katie called. “Regris, what’s the status?” She then listened, hearing the hiss of the door opening. The steps were soft, but they weren’t Regris’. Near her, Bae Bae was snarling and Rover beeped. “Bae Bae, cover!” Katie called. She then sprung from her seat and got around it, activating her bayard into its staff form. She swung it out, aiming to hit the intruder, narrowly missing him as he dodged.

“Whoa! You really don’t waste time, don’cha?” Chip called. “Now shut your ship down!”

“Yeah right, not with you guys attacking us!” Katie countered, going at the ninja again.

“Only because you attacked first!” Chip pointed out. Well, at least she understood him and spoke the same common language. He went to strike, using his ninja stars to hit her, but she managed to dodge most of them; the ones she didn’t dodge, her armor protected her. His ears twitched at the sound of a beep and then Katie swung again, actually swiping his legs out from under him.

“Us? Dude! We just crashed!” Katie snapped. “Like, literally! We crashed, we were trying to figure shit out, and then you guys attacked! Of course I’m gonna fight back!”

Chip wanted to argue, but he realized she had a point. Well. That was awkward. He then vaulted himself back up to his feet. Could this little pilot, a pilot smaller than even his own brother, not be an actual enemy? He then heard that beeping again. Next thing he knew, he got a staff to the face, knocking him back.

Enemy or not, the fight was still going on. And that drone was distracting him. Before he went at Katie again, he went to take down the drone, knocking it offline and sending it clattering to the floor.

“Huh?” Katie blinked. “Rover?” Nothing. No beeping. “Rover? You there?” Still nothing. “Oh, c’mon! What is it with y’all taking down my buddy!?” She swung again, this time without an actual target and a bit more wildly. “He’s just a little guy! Leave him alone! This does not help his anxiety!”

Chip was perplexed as he kept back. Just how important was that drone to make the pilot throw a tantrum? He then watched as she swung her staff, trying to hit him. Though that trying wasn’t very, well, trying. Sure, she was faster and more aggressive than a few seconds ago, but she wasn’t making progress. He then narrowly dodged the next swing. “Whoa!”

“There.” Katie tipped her head towards Chip’s direction. She removed her helmet and threw it right at the ninja’s face, smacking him and causing a nosebleed.

“Shit!” Chip hissed, feeling the blood gush. He then dropped and rolled out of the way when Katie swung her staff at him again. He stopped moving and watched her as she swung a few more times. She then stopped. What was she doing? Couldn’t she see him down there? He then grunted when the lion was knocked into, Hunk clearly still fighting it. Was it piloting itself at that point?

He didn’t think of it much as the pilot started swinging again, this time coming closer. He rolled out of the way, dodging her strikes. He finally stopped, settling himself in silence. Once silent, Katie returned to listening, finding any sign of the intruder.

It then donned on Chip. The pilot couldn’t see. If she couldn’t see, how did she fly? No, he couldn’t focus on that. Right now, he had to focus on subduing her. He slowly got up, doing his best to maintain his silence, even as Hunk hit the lion again and caused things to shake.

There was one more thing the ninja didn’t keep an eye on. He didn’t pay attention to the bull terrier hiding near the controls of the lions. And he didn’t pay attention to her sneaking around. So, it was safe to say he did not see the next move coming.

“SHIT!” Chip shouted when he was bit right on the rear. He then got smacked in the face and knocked over the dog, Bae Bae jumping out of the way and returning to her girl.

“Gotcha now.” Katie said.

“Pidge! Stop! They’re not enemies!” Regris burst in, calling out and catching Katie’s attention. As a reflex. She swung at him, but he caught the staff. “It’s okay.”

“What? But they-”

“Hunk, stand down. They’re not our enemy!” Pidge called into the comms, running in.

“Wait… what? Hunk?” Katie asked.

“Pidge?” Chip inquired.

“It’s uh…” Regris sighed. “I think I know what’s going on.” He got Katie to settle down before looking to the twins. “And I think we should settle and talk it over.”

“Yeah? Why not make it quick instead?” Chip got up. “Damn, that smarts! That dog bit my ass!”

“Good girl, Bae Bae.” Katie smirked. “It’s what you get for attacking us.”

“Okay… kinda fair.” Chip nodded.

“Anyway, Regris? Can we get a summary of what you think is going on?” Katie asked.

“Well… I think we’re in another reality.” Regris stated.

-+-+-+-

“Yow!” Chip cried out as the doctor checked his nose.

“Just hold on for a few seconds more.” the doctor said as she put a patch over his nose. “It’s not broken, but this’ll help soothe it.” She then looked to Katie, chuckling a bit. “Your little battle buddy wasn’t complaining. And his nose took more damage than yours in that crash.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Chip mumbled. “Doesn’t that hurt?”

“I think I’m used to getting my face hit at this point.” Katie admitted.

“Your brothers are going to flip.” Regris sighed.

“They worry too much.” Katie stated. “But it does mean they care.”

“Okay.” Pidge spoke up. While the others were being checked out, Regris explained what he thought was going on. “Let me see if I got this right. You guys saw a wormhole, which is normal-ish for you and went through it. Turns out it was Chip’s trial run with a wormhole and somehow it penetrated into another reality. Your reality. And you guys are paladins. Or rather your Pidge is. And you got separated from the other paladins. You don’t know where they are. And there are a lot of similarities because you also have your own Hunk, Chip, Keith, Allura, and Lance.”

“That about sums it up.” Katie informed, working on Rover to get him back online. She smiled when he beeped again. “Welcome back, buddy.” She then tipped her head in Pidge’s direction. “Oh yeah. And our Allura’s not a paladin, unlike yours. And some of the lions don’t match up.”

“Yeah… because your Lance in blue and Keith in red is… that’s not normal. Lance for me has always been red and Keith’s the lead. He’s in black.” Pidge stated. “And who the hell is Shiro?”

“Our leader.” Katie chuckled. “Yeah. It’s a lot to take in. But.. another reality? Wow.”

“Another reality… that’s… how is that even possible?” Hunk inquired.

“I mean. We fly giant mechanical lions that form into a giant robot. I think impossible is kind of not a thing.” Katie pointed out.

“Okay, that’s fair.” Hunk nodded. He then rubbed the back of his head. “Oh yeah. Uh. Sorry about the attack. We’ve had trouble at times, even here on Balto…”

“Understandable, so don’t fret about it.” Katie assured, waving it off.

“Anyway, we should contact the others back on Arus.” Pidge spoke up. “And figure out where the other lions crashed.”

“There’s been no readings here on Balto.” Chip informed. “But I can run the systems, see if I can locate other coordinates.” He thought it over. “But… to think my wormhole generator would penetrate the realities… and… these things are normal for you?”

“Kinda. Only Allura can form them, but Coran can, too, if there’s enough of her power in the castle.” Katie explained. “We use them to get around at times.”

“I wonder if your princess can help me figure out bettering our wormholes… and figuring out how to get you guys home.” Chip mused. “But for now, your team needs to be found.”

“At least they’re not alone.” Katie mused. “We each traveled with a buddy. So that’s a plus. So they’ve each got someone who has their back.”

“Good.” Pidge nodded. “Anyway, I’m gonna get in touch with the guys back at Arus. C’mon, Hunk, let’s update them. Chip, can you work on getting the wormhole location data.”

“Copy that.” Chip nodded. He watched the two pilots go off. He then looked to Katie. He had to ask. “Pidge, boy that’s gonna take some getting used to, but… uh… when we were fighting… um… are you blind?”

Katie just grinned. “Damn, that was fast.” she responded. “Some folks take longer. Even a week.” She couldn’t help but chuckle. “But yeah, I am. Don’t tell the others. You know, your reality people? Mine know, but.” She snickered. “It’s kind of a fun game to play. See how long it takes people to notice. And to kinda show the that I can handle my own though blind. It doesn’t stop me.”

Chip blinked. Did this kid really treat it like a game? Yes. Yes she did. But she also used it to prove herself. At least she had others who had her back; that was a plus. He then checked. His twin and best friend weren’t back yet. He looked to Katie again.

“Okay, next question. How the hell do you pilot your lion?” Chip asked. “Or is Regris the pilot? Co-pilot?”

“Green doesn’t accept me as a pilot. I just keep Pidge company and help in combat on the ground.” Regris stated.

“Yeah, I pilot her myself.” Katie chuckled. “See, I bonded with Green and I can see through her eyes. The others can, too, with their lions. Or at least potentially.” She rubbed the back of her head nervously. “Shiro was the only other one who succeeded in using it once for training, but he hasn’t utilized it since. But, for me? It’s how I do things. It’s part of my life.”

Chip smiled. “Okay, first chance I get, I’m asking you so many questions about those lions and the bonds. Because they sound super cool.” He got up. “But first, work. Gotta see about finding those coordinates. After that? Tell me about that cloaking. I wanna know how you applied it to an entire ship.”

Chapter Text

It wasn’t the first time Takashi Shiro Shirogane found himself in a cell. On the plus side, at least he wasn’t enslaved. In the depths of a castle, he found himself locked in a cell with Ulaz, his companion and ally lying on a cot and just contemplating the situation. What really had the paladin surprised was the presence of people that looked like Earthlings. To further it, he found out he wasn’t on Earth, but Arus. But the Arus he knew was far more primitive and the Arusians were small, bi-pedal little buggers that were relatively friendly and didn’t look like Earthlings at all.

This Arus wasn’t the Arus he knew.

And the pilots and people he saw definitely weren’t the ones he knew. Lance, Keith, and Allura? All names he knew, but they weren’t them. And the lions they piloted definitely weren’t ones they recognized.

And then Ulaz had the comment as they were detained.

It must be another reality.

“You really think we’d believe that crap about other realities?” Lance, pilot of that reality’s red lion, snapped, his glare mainly on the Galran of the duo. “This has got to be one of Wade’s tricks lingering to bite us. Or the Drule.”

“Drool?” Shiro blinked. “Like saliva?”

“No, no, that’s d-r-o-o-l.” Vince clarified. “We mean Drule. D-r-u-l-e. They’re one of the races in this universe. And hostile. They’re the enemy.” Daniel, his fellow cadet, elbowed him and gave him a look. “What? I just wanted to clear things up.”

“Bad guys don’t get courtesy explanations.” Daniel reminded.

“So, what exactly are Drule?” Shiro asked.

“Uh, the guy next to you? Obviously.” Lance stated, motioning to Ulaz. “And your arm is Drule tech.”

“Um…” Shiro looked to his arm.

“I think their Drule is the equivalent to our Galra.” Ulaz stated, not yet sitting up. “In fact, it’s actually an old term back on Daibazaal in our reality, the Drule being one of the many tribes of the Galra. But tribal names have long since been phased out and as a whole, we refer to ourselves as Galra.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” Shiro nodded, appreciating the history lesson.

“Reality, reality, reality.” Lance scoffed. “It’s a load of bullshit.”

“Says the pilot who controls a giant mechanical lion and probably forms a giant robot when all five are together.” Ulaz mused. Lance opened his mouth before shutting it again. Okay, he couldn’t argue that much.

“Look, we still can’t be sure if you’re the enemy or not.” Keith spoke up.

“We should call Pidge and Hunk up to get them back here for backup.” Lance mused. Keith nodded in agreement.

“Will you three be able to handle watching them? Making sure they don’t try anything?” Keith asked, looking to the trio.

“C’mon, Keith, who do you take us for?” Daniel smirked, activating his voltcom and triggering the claws. He held up his hands a bit. “We got this!” He accidentally shot the claws into the ceiling. “Um… I meant to do that.”

Larmina groaned as she smacked the palm of her hand to her forehead. “Yeah. At least one of us has this handled.” Daniel glared, taking offense to that comment; he knew she meant herself.

Well, they shouldn’t be able to get out anyway.” Allura assured the cadets. “But if there’s trouble, call for help.”

“Right, though I doubt we’ll need to.” Larmina was so sure of herself. She and her fellow cadets saw the pilots off before taking up their jobs to watch the prisoners.

Shiro sat there for a moment, feeling a little awkward. It was definitely a situation he didn’t expect. And then he thought of the cadets. They couldn’t be much older than the twins, right? But they were cadets, not full pilots. At least they were given an opportunity to train, unlike his little duo as they were just thrown into things.

“So.” Shiro started, not sure how to handle breaking the ice and easing the awkwardness and tensions. “You’re training for Voltron, huh?”

“Fishing for information won’t work.” Larmina reminded. “Just be a good prisoner and don’t cause issues.” She smirked. “Though, it’s not like you can do much. Those cells are impossible to break out of.”

“I beg to differ.” Ulaz comment. “They seem easy to handle.”

“Yeah? If that’s the case then why are you still here?” Daniel sassed, looking a little smug. “That’s just tough talk.”

“Respect and not wishing to cause more issues.” the Galran informed.

Daniel scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.”

Ulaz sat up. “Hmm.” He got up and went to the cell door. He motioned to the cadets to back off to the sides. Deciding to humour him, they did so. He shifted a bit before striking a forceful kick to the door, sending it from its hinges and into the wall opposite of its original spot. Saying nothing more, he returned to the cot and sat down on it.

“Oh boy.” Larmina looked shocked. “Aunt Allura won’t be happy to hear of this…” At least the prisoners stayed in the cell.

“So you two are literally so polite you’re not gonna try to escape?!” Daniel exclaimed. “What the snart?! What reality did you come from where Drule soldiers have manners?!”

“I don’t know about your reality,” Shiro spoke up, “but in ours, not all Galra are bad. Sure, we’re fighting a war against the empire, but we have some allies, too. They’re fighting as rebels, wanting to take down the empire, too.”

“How can you guys trust them? Trust him?” Daniel inquired, motioning to the Blade. “Just because he says he’s good?”

“He saved me.” Shiro informed. He put his hand over his robotic arm. “I was a prisoner once. A slave of the empire, captured while on a simple scientific mission to study one of Pluto’s moons. But Ulaz helped me to escape, getting me to another Blade who brought me back home so we could protect the blue lion. Since then, we’ve been finding more Blades.” He offered a smile. They’ve proven themselves time and time again. They’re our allies. Our friends.”

“That’s amazing.” Vince said, looking to be in awe. “I wonder if there are some like here.”

“Doubt it.” Larmina scoffed. “Drule have only shown to be bad.”

“But why not?” Vince asked. “I mean, we’ve clearly seen that Earthlings aren’t immune to being evil. So… what if we’ve just not met any good Drule?”

Shiro smiled. “That’s good thinking.” he commented. “While it doesn’t hurt to be cautious, it is nice to find the good in others. You never know where you’ll find allies.”

The cadets thought it over. Vince and Shiro both had valid points. And villains weren’t as black and white and easy to spot.

“So, uh…” Daniel decided to move the topic a bit. “What’s with the arm?” Vince and Larmina shot him a look, thinking that one may have been rude. “What? I’m curious!”

Shiro couldn’t help but be amused. It was good to see curiosity in the kids. “I wasn’t too well. A sickness affecting my muscles, hitting my arm first. But I was well enough to be a slave and fight in the arena.” he informed, coping enough to talk about it. “I don’t remember everything, but my arm was removed. I don’t know if medically or in a fight, but I was given the prosthetic to keep fighting for their entertainment.” He smirked. “But now I use it as a means to fight the empire. And it helps to get into Galra tech, too.”

“Pidge keeps hacking into it, too. And tinkering with it.” Ulaz pointed out.

“Yeah, that too.” Shiro laughed a bit.

“He sounds like our Pidge.” Vince snickered. “He would do the same if someone had a robotic limb.”

-+-+-+-

Upstairs in the control room, Lance, Keith, and Allura made contact with their Hunk and Pidge, learning about their situation with the other reality’s Pidge and mistaking her for an enemy. Hearing them talk, the pilots were reevaluating things. Were Shiro and Ulaz being honest? Did they really come from another reality?”

“I still don’t like trusting that Drule.” Lance muttered.

“One of them is Drule?” Pidge asked over the video conference.

“Yeah, big pale dude with a Mohawk. The systems pinged him as Drule. But he calls himself a Galra.” Lance explained.

“Hmm… just a sec.” Pidge ran off to ask Katie and Regris about that.

“So, how did things go on your end?” Keith inquired. “The other Pidge attacked?”

“Counter attacked, actually.” Hunk admitted. “He just crashed and we struck first. So him fighting back was founded. But he’s cool, he understands we were ensuring Balto’s safety. He isn’t so mad about it.”

Allura let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad it went well.” She watched as Pidge returned. “And? I assume you went to ask your visitors about this?”

“Yeah. Mentioning the black lion was enough, he said that was Ulaz.” Pidge confirmed. “Regris says that Ulaz works for a group of Galra rebels, ones he’s part of, too; he’s half Galra himself. And the other Pidge says they’re their friends.” He nodded. “Look, I know it’s a lot to take in, but I think we can trust them on this. At least for their reality.”

“Then we best let our guests out.” Allura nodded. “Pidge, Hunk, you’ll be returning soon?”

“Yeah.” Pidge nodded. “We need to finish waiting for Chip to compile the data and see if he can track where the other lions went. And we’ll bring my counterpart along, too.”

“Yeah, this is gonna be tricky. We now have two Pidges.” Hunk stated. “And there’s gonna be doubles of others later, too.”

“We’ll figure out naming later.” Keith assured. “Safe travels, you two.”

“Will do.” Hunk nodded.

“Got it.” Pidge confirmed.

Communications were then cut and the others headed back down to the cells. Lance, though, sighed as he walked with them. “I’m still not sure about this…”

“I understand.” Keith nodded. “But we need to do our best with things. This other reality… things are clearly different. By a lot.”

“We’ll make the best of i-” Allura froze in her tracks when she saw the cell door was not longer in place. “What happened here?”

Lance took a look to find the cadets in the cell with the prisoners. Everyone was accounted for and all three cadets were teaming up against Shiro, trying to take him down in an arm wrestling match. “We gave you kids one job!”

“Sorry, but at least they’re still kinda doing their job.” Shiro chuckled, looking up. “And we didn’t leave.”

Allura let out a sigh of relief. At least things seemed to be going well. “I think things are just fine.” she mused.

“Yeah, I guess.” Lance watched for a moment before smirking. “Okay, you know what? Move over, kids, let me show you how a real pilot does this.” He rolled up his sleeves and nudged the cadets away. “How about a real fight, huh?”

Shiro matched Lance’s smirk. “Let’s hope you’re a good challenge.” he commented, amused that the pilot was getting competitive.

Chapter Text

A dog. An actual dog from the planet Earth. Not a hybrid. Not an alien breed brought to Earth. An actual Earth dog. And the most precious girl in the universe with her own protective flight suit.

Daniel was on cloud nine.

The moment he saw Bae Bae, all he could see was the best girl ever and he could only do one thing. He had to go over and pet her. He didn’t even think to ask for permission, not that Katie minded. The moment she heard him go over and pet the bull terrier after announcing there was a dog, she just laughed it off.

But Daniel wasn’t the only one with his sights set on someone. Pidge was over at Shiro, checking him out. A little bit of his muscles, but mostly his prosthetic.

The meet and greet was going fairly well.

“Oh my god! I can’t believe you guys have a dog! She’s so precious!” Daniel cheered. “Who’s a good girl? You are! Yes you are!”

“Um… what is…” Larmina was worried.

“This is the very normal Earthling response to dogs.” Lance mused, smirking a bit. “They’re man’s best friend.” He smiled. “Gotta admit, though, it is nice seeing her.”

“Okay. So, that’s normal then.” Larmina nodded. She then motioned to where Ulaz was fussing over Katie. “Is that normal, too?”

Shiro looked to what Larmina pointed out. He chuckled a bit. “Yeah. Our Galra friends tend to fuss over Pidge. Especially when injured. Haxus is fussier, but he’s back at the castle. Which didn’t come with us.”

“I see…” Larmina nodded.

“Anyway,” Keith spoke up, getting the attention of the others, “this is only two fifths of the team. We need to find the other three lions.”

“Actually, we’re already working on that.” Chip spoke up. “See, the wormhole activated different coordinates. And I think I can locate them.” He put up the data on the projected screen. “It’s not the easiest because the system went wonky when the realities connected, but I think we can get it. And, actually? I think I found one of them.”

“Yeah?” Lance asked. “So, which lion?”

“Uh, I don’t know that one.” Chip admitted. He then brought up the coordinates and an image of a planet. “The lion crashed here.”

“Hey, Planet Ariel!” Pidge declared. “Looks like we have our planet.”

“Ariel, huh.” Katie nodded. “Then let’s go.”

“And do you know how to get there, kid?” Lance reached over and put his hand on her head to keep her in place. “We know our reality. We’ll go.”

“And if you guys scare our friends?” Katie inquired.

“Hmm.” Lance just grunted.

“We can take them with us.” Keith stated. “Though… bringing Ulaz to Ariel…” He wasn’t so sure. “It’s nothing personal. But here, the Drule…”

“No worries; I am fine remaining here.” Ulaz stated.

“As am I.” Shiro added. “We can be on standby in case another lion is found, then I can try to find where they are and collect that team.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” Pidge nodded. “Perhaps the cadets should remain, too?” He looked to Larmina. “To help out in finding the coordinates and where they lead? They know this reality and the maps.”

“And they should be able to work with my data.” Chip chimed in, getting his twin to look to him. “I kinda wanna go, too. I’ve not been to Ariel and meeting another lion’s team. What if my counterpart is there? Your counterpart’s twin is with one of the lions, so…”

“Do you three think you can stay here and help out?” Allura asked.

“We got this, Aunt Allura.” Larmina stated. “Besides, I think we’ve gotten used to these two.”

“And if another lion’s coordinates are located, we can put our galactic map studies to the test.” Vince added.

“Good. Then we’ll leave it to you.” Allura nodded.

“Uh, can Bae Bae stay here?” Daniel asked, still paying attention to her.

“Yeah, she’s good to stay.” Katie chuckled, hearing just how happy Daniel was to be petting a dog; Bae Bae seemed to enjoy the attention anyway.

“Okay, since everything is settled, time to head out.” Keith said.

-+-+-+-

“Nice kitty. Good kitty.” Hunk whimpered. The paladin and Chip were found in the yellow lion. After crashing on Ariel, lost and unable to contact the team, the two left the safety of the lion, much to Hunk’s reluctance. Perhaps following Chip’s curiosity and readiness to explore bit them in the backsides as they were caught, detained, and face to face with actual lions.

Unlike Hunk, who was having a crisis and hoping they wouldn’t be mauled by lions, Chip looked rather calm. Sure, he was a bit worried about his twin, but he wasn’t going to panic yet. He was face to face with a lion and dealing with accusations of being impostors. No, perhaps calm wasn’t the right term. He looked like it on the outside, but inside, he was a little ticked off.

“Look.” Chip sighed. “For the last time. I don’t know what’s going on. You say we’re impostors and that you know the Voltron Force, but we’ve not met you before and I assure you, Hunk here is the paladin of the yellow lion.” He didn’t know how many times he could say it.

“And you claim he is Hunk. But we know Hunk, pilot to the yellow lion.” the leader of the people, a man of almost Earthling appearance by the name of Chief Kalon, stated. “And we will not stand for such a mockery.”

“Chip…” Hunk whined. “What do we do? I don’t wanna die on this planet! I haven’t even tried all of Olkarion’s dishes!”

“Hunk, we’re not gonna die.” Chip reminded. “C’mon, man, try to breathe.” He then looked to their captors. “Uh, you guys mind calling off the cats and lowering weapons for a moment? My friend’s having a panic attack.”

Kalon blinked. Did their prisoners really just ask them to back off so he could comfort his friend? Now that he thought of it, they were probably just a couple of kids. He made a motion, his fellow lion riders backing down a bit.

“Hunk, try to breathe, c’mon. Breathe in, breathe out. We got this. We’ll figure something out.” Chip coaxed, trying to soothe his friend. “Look, we’ll figure something out. And they only detained us. We’re not hurt. If we don’t try anything reckless or pull a Keith or Pidge, we’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Hunk nodded.

Kalon observed the duo. Keith. Pidge. He knew those names. But they surely could not be the Pidge and Keith he knew. Something was off. But he could not let his guard down; they had been victimized in the past and he refuses to let that happen again.

Perhaps, he figured, it was best to question them further.

“So, what brings you two to Ariel then?” Kalon inquired. “To steal more korrite? Are you in league with Wade? Or the Drule?”

“Uh…” Hunk was pulled from his breathing exercises for a moment to be confused. “Uh… where’s Ariel, what’s korrite, who’s Wade, and what’s drool? You mean saliva?”

“Something tells me that this drool thing has to do with a race, not saliva.” Chip informed. “Though… yeah. I don’t know who or what any of that stuff is. But logic also dictates korrite to be a sort of mineral.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Hunk nodded.

Chip then looked back up to Kalon. “But seriously. We don’t know what any of that stuff is. Or why there’s this debate of Voltron lions. We just crashed here. Literally.” he said. “We were going through a wormhole in hopes of finding more Alteans, we got split up, and just got thrown through and into this planet. We’re lost on this. Figuratively and literally.”

“We will let the lions be the judge of that then.” Kalon stated. “They will know your honesty by scent.” He let the lions move around their captives, sniffing at the duo.

“What they’re gonna smell is Samoan fear.” Hunk whimpered.

Chip was worried, but he did his best to maintain himself. He did his best to channel his sister’s bravery, her ability to blindly, quite literally, go into situations without fear. He also held onto the confidence of knowing that neither of them were lying. One of the lions stopped and stared into his eyes.

Chip sat there, face to face with the lion that stared into him. After a moment, the lion’s face drew nearer. And then he was headbutted. In an instant, Hunk’s whimpering ceased and the lions were simply nuzzling the duo.

“Uh…” Hunk opened his eyes. “I think they judged us? And… uh… decided we’re snuggle shaped.” He let out an oof when a lion plopped himself on his lap. “Aww! They’re kinda like giant house cats! And they’re pretty cute when they’re not snarling at us.” He looked over. “Chip! We’re safe!” He tipped his head to the side when Chip didn’t speak. “Uh? Chip? Chippers? Man? You good?”

“No!” Chip sobbed. “I want to adopt them all! They’re so cute!”

Kalon blinked. He did not expect this response, both from the lions and their prisoners. But who was he to disagree with the lions’ judgment?

“Chief Kalon, sir.” One of his lion riders approached him. “It is the Voltron Force. They are coming in to land.”

“Good. Then we can talk to them about these two cubs.” Kalon stated.

“But… um…”

“What is it?”

“There is an extra lion with them. A green one.”

Chip perked up. “Oh! Pidge came for us!” he announced, getting the chief’s attention. “We’re twins. Pidge is one of the paladins, like Hunk.”

“Hmm.” Kalon grunted. Well, at least the pilots he knew would hopefully be able to tell him what was going on. “For now, though, untie these two. But keep an eye on them to ensure they do not cause trouble.”

Chapter Text

“Another reality?” Kalon questioned. The pilots landed with their little paladin friend. From there, Keith had explained what was going on. With Keith vouching for the paladin and non-ninja, Kalon had his lion riders stand down, letting Hunk and Chip be at rest. Or more rest? Chip was very occupied with the lions, happily snuggling them.

“Yeah… it was a shock to us, too.” Keith admitted. “And our Pidge and Hunk ended up fighting one of them, too, when he crashed on Balto. But they’re okay. Different and from very different lives, but they’re good.”

“They fought?” Kalon inquired, looking to the small paladin still in her armour, not having a chance to change into her overalls yet. “And that tiny one is the pilot?”

“Yeah… it’s a bit concerning.” Keith stated. “But according to Chip, our Pidge’s brother, he puts up a fight. And he’s got a friend who helps, too.”

“It seems this other Voltron has some interesting cubs on their side.” Kalon nodded. He then looked to where Chip was, still snuggling the lions. “Very interesting.”

“Wow.” Ninja Chip smiled as he approached his counterpart. “So even I have a counterpart. That is amazing.”

Chip smiled. He heard the explanation and was amazed to know about the other reality and the counterparts. He then got up and offered his hand. “It’s almost like looking at my future. And you’re a ninja?” The attire didn’t miss his observation. “That is so cool.”

“Not just me.” Ninja Chip grinned. “Just about everyone on our planet are ninjas. It’s pretty normal.” He then looked over, seeing the two Hunks greet each other. Tech Sergeant Hunk even went in for the hug, nearly squishing his paladin counterpart, not that he minded the warm and family-like gesture.

“Chip! Chip! Look!” Sergeant Hunk called out. “It’s like having a little brother!”

“Okay, this reality thing is pretty neat.” Hunk grinned brightly.

“We totally gotta have a party when everyone is found.” Sergeant Hunk beamed. “I’ll make a new grill, too!”

“Just don’t use jet fuel this time, Hunk.” Pidge teased, walking over to them. He then smiled at Chip. “So, you’re my counterpart’s twin. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too.” Chip nodded. He accepted Pidge’s hand when it was offered. “So. You guys fought my twin?”

“I didn’t get the chance to, actually.” Pidge admitted. “His friend, Regris, knocked me around enough. But Chip did.”

“Yeah, and he’s pretty skilled. A little brash and no actual style that I can pinpoint.” ninja Chip admitted. Not that that was bad, though; a lack of style made it harder to predict the paladin’s next move. He then poked at his nose a bit. “Threw his helmet at my face.”

Chip blinked. So, they were sure Katie was a boy. That was fine. He knew this game. “Yeah, he does that. That or his boots. He’s got the Gunderson aim going for him.”

“Gunderson?” Pidge asked.

“Yeah, it’s our mom’s last name.” Chip responded. “Dad’s is Holt. We go by both, really. But with Gunderson, we’re kinda taught to aim well. Mom’s a skilled shot and I learned the same. Though Pidge prefers the staff when fighting.” For reasons, but if they didn’t know Katie was blind yet, he wasn’t going to out her.

“So, another difference is last names.” Pidge mused. “See, my brother’s and my family name is Stoker.” He grinned. “It’s neat finding similarities and differences.”

“Anyway, where is my Pidge?” Chip inquired.

“Um…” Pidge looked over to where he last saw Katie. He then spotted her leaning against Regris as the Blade snuggled down into the warm sands. A few lions padded over and nestled in like cats wanting to chill out. “He’s more of an animal magnet than I am.”

“Yeah… someone’s gonna have to keep an eye on him.” Chip sighed. “Pidge may be likely to adopt some lions.”

“Didn’t you wanna adopt the lions, too?” Hunk inquired, the paladin not minding outing his friend like that.

“Yeah. Don’t tell Bae Bae.” Chip chuckled a bit. He then looked around, expecting to see the bull terrier. “Uh, speaking of Bae Bae…”

“She’s back at the castle with the cadets, Shiro, and Ulaz.” ninja Chip assured. “She’s fine. And well loved.”

“Yeah, Daniel especially took to paying attention to her.” Pidge chuckled. “Not that I blame him. It’s nice having a dog around. And one that’s not gonna turn into a robeast.”

“Bad experiences with animals becoming robeasts?” Hunk looked worried about that one. “Wait… you guys get robeasts, too?”

“Yeah, some instances years back. Kinda why we don’t adopt animals anymore.” Pidge admitted.

“And, yeah.” Sergeant Hunk nodded. “Robeasts are a common occurrence for us. Sometimes it’s annoying. Sometimes it gives us something to do.”

“I wish we had less robeasts.” the yellow paladin admitted. “I mean, it’s only been a few but… they are not easy to deal with. Voltron’s supposed to be the strongest thing there is. Yet the robeasts keep kicking our butts for the most part.”

“It’s been a thousand years and we’re still learning, Hunk.” Katie called, hearing her fellow paladin’s concerns and worry. “We’ve got this!”

“Yeah, thanks for that!” Hunk called. He sighed. “Though, I still do worry.”

“Well, hopefully there won’t be robeast trouble while you guys are visiting us.” Sergeant Hunk said, patting his new buddy’s back. “And if there are, you got us to help. And we’ve got experience on our side.” He then looked up when Keith approached them. “Hey, what’s up?”

“We’re gonna get ready to head back to Arus.” Keith informed. He looked to Hunk and Chip. “Kalon is at an understanding that you’re not the enemy. And…” He looked when Kalon stepped up to his side.

“I wish to apologize.” Kalon said, dipping his head. “I am sorry we treated you with hostility.”

“Well, it’s not like you hurt us, so that’s fine.” Hunk assured, understanding the situation. “You guys were just protecting yourselves.”

“Water under the bridge.” Chip assured, his expression confusing Kalon. “Um, it means we’re over it. It’s all good. And understandable.”

“I am glad there are no hard feelings.” Kalon offered his hand, which Chip accepted and then the paladin. “If we meet again, hopefully it’ll be in a better situation.”

-+-+-+-

“Puppy! Puppy! Puppy!”

“Will you shut up!?” Larmina snapped. “I swear, one more minute of this and I’m gonna-”

“Breathe, Larmina.” Shiro instructed, chuckling a bit. “Daniel’s just excited.”

“Well, he’s getting annoying.” Larmina grumbled. “Are all Earthlings like this with a dog?”

“More or less.” Ulaz responded. “At least that’s what I’ve noticed. I mean, they don’t always get distracted in our group, but they do adore and work with Bae Bae well.” He then checked the data on the system. “Ah, I think we got a ping?”

“Yeah!” Vince nodded, checking on what Ulaz got. “We got another set of coordinates that opened up. And… oh boy.”

“What’s up?” Daniel straightened up. “Where’s it lead?”

“To Crydor.” Vince sighed. “It’s a mostly uninhabited place. If Sven’s still there, that is. Is he even…”

“I’m sure he’s fine. The guys called that man a viking. And vikings are badass.” Daniel said.

“But it looks like a lion ended up there.” Vince informed the others. “Which may not be the best. That planet is super cold.”

“Yeah, our lions didn’t do well there.” Daniel nodded.

“Well, hopefully it’s Blue that crashed; that one can handle water and ice well.” Shiro stated. “And who knows, maybe our lions will handle it.” He looked over to Ulaz. “Any word from the others?”

“Not yet.” Ulaz shook his head. “I can try to contact them, though.”

Shiro nodded. “You can try, but if not, just let them know I headed out to the coordinates.”

“I’ll send them to your system.” Ulaz stated

“Wait… so we’re just being left here?” Daniel asked. “What if you get lost? We know our maps. We can go, too. Help out. Maybe fly your lion instead.”

“You’re not even trying to be subtle…” Vince mumbled as Larmina just smacked her palm to her forehead.

Shiro chuckled a bit, amused by the cadets, especially Daniel’s enthusiasm. He looked to Ulaz. “You think you can watch the castle while we’re out?”

“I’m no Coran, but I think I can manage.” Ulaz nodded. “The tech is easy to understandable and my translator works rather well on the Arusian writing. And if needed, I can try and get contact with the others.”

“Well, looks like we got our plans then.” Shiro nodded. “Okay, cadets, make sure you’re ready; looks like it’s gonna be cold there.” To show their readiness, the cadets actually activated their suits, getting it set up to full armour. “Well, that’s nifty.” He smiled. “Then let’s get going.” Shiro started for one of the chutes that led to the lions before realizing his mistake. “Right, outside. This isn’t our castle.” He turned around and went in the right direction.

“So, you think I can fly the lion?” Daniel asked, grinning with anticipation. “I mean, if I do, I can lead us there better and-”

“You’re just looking for an excuse to fly a bigger lion, aren’t you?” Larmina smirked.

“I mean, it looks so cool!” Daniel exclaimed. “You can’t blame me!”

Shiro chuckled. “You know, it depends.”

“On what?” Daniel was curious, but the probability excited him. A chance to pilot the black lion without getting into trouble? It was a dream come true! Even if it was one from another reality! Maybe piloting it, Shiro would put in a good word for him to Keith.

Shiro just hummed as he led them to the lion outside. The mechanical beast lowered her head, letting the group in. He then led them to the cockpit, Larmina grumbling a bit.

“It’s bigger on the outside, but this cockpit’s a bit small.” Larmina pointed out. “And really confined… I don’t know if it’s smaller or bigger than our lions but...”

“Yeah, especially when seven people are crammed in.” Shiro chuckled a bit. “And Lance flying blue and taking a literal crash course at first? Hoo, that was a doozy.” He then patted the headrest on the pilot’s seat. “Well, Daniel? Ready to try?”

“Hell yeah!” Daniel jumped into the seat and grabbed the controls. He was amazed to see how they were two grips as opposed to a steering console. “So. Uh, how does it start? Where’s the key?”

“No key.”

“Seriously?” Daniel looked back. “Then how does it even start?”

“It just does when the lion chooses a paladin.” Shiro stated. “While the bayards act as keys to unlock abilities, I don’t have mine, but that’s fine.” He looked around. “Doesn’t look like she’s going to let you fly.” Dejected, Daniel got up. “Anyone else wanna try?”

Curious, the other cadets did try, but Black didn’t accept either of them. “Yeah, lions can be picky. Even family doesn’t count; Chip and Matt have both tried to pilot Green instead of Pidge, but, well.” He shrugged and went to sit down. “See, our lions choose their paladins based on quintessence, this energy found in all of us. And when we match up, they choose us.” He smiled. “But don’t be discouraged. You guys are young and cadets, still training. It’s possible Black just doesn’t think you’re ready yet.”

“Yeah, but isn’t your Pidge like twelve?” Daniel asked. “He’s still a kid. Shouldn’t he be training?”

He? Ah, Shiro knew this game. “He’s fifteen, actually.” Shiro corrected. “And yeah, he’s fresh to this. We’re all rather new, actually. But Pidge is really adaptable.” He took hold of the controls and activated the lion, bringing up the purple screens. “Okay, time for us to head out and find who crashed on Crydor.”

Chapter Text

“Oh look. Ice. Ice. And, what’s that? More ice.” Matt said, staring outside and seeing the frozen wasteland he and Lance crashed upon. “But somehow I feel like we’re not on Kerberos.”

“Yeah…” Lance nodded. “Well, good news is, it’s not the first time I’ve crashed on a frozen planet. Bad news is, I don’t think we’re gonna see any pretty mermaids.”

“Damn.” Matt sighed. “And I’d guess the same applies to mermen.”

“We could ask Shiro to wear a tail.”

“Ooh, nice.” Matt then waved it off. “Anyway, frozen planet. Now what? How are comms?”

“Well, while Blue’s functions and power levels look fine, I’m not getting anything on comms.” Lance responded, checking over everything again. “Though she does seem a bit lethargic. Kinda down, I guess. Maybe it’s too cold? Does that make sense?”

“You do realize you’re talking to probably the third biggest nerd in the universe with a love for tech and robots, right?” Matt asked. “It makes sense.”

“I thought you were the biggest since you’re taller than Pidge and Chip.” Lance’s comment made the rebel snort with laughter.

“Yeah, until Pidge hits me in the goodies for stealing her snacks, then I’m down on the ground.” Matt hummed. “But seriously, the twins out-nerd me. They tie for first.”

“Who’s second?”

“Dad.”

“That makes sense now.” Lance nodded. “Anyway. We’re out of touch with the others. Just what was up with that wormhole? Jeez…”

“Well, when lost in space, the best thing to do is stay put.” Matt reminded. “But… I wonder if we should try to explore. Maybe there’s a rebel outpost here.”

“Rebels put bases on frozen planets?”

“Yeah.” Matt nodded. “I’ve not been to any, but Toval would talk about some rebel buddies of his, including one actually volunteering. But apparently Remdax was always weird like that.” He shrugged with a laugh. “Anyway, anything on the sensors?”

“Not right off, no.” Lance looked at the data. “But maybe if we move around, we can find something. Like a structure or settlement.” He moved the controls, pushing Blue into a gentle stride across the open, frozen land. Thanks to the lion’s pace, it didn’t take long for the them to come across what looked like an old settlement.

“Hmm…” Matt looked out. “Looks like a ghost town. A frozen one.”

“Let’s hope that there’s no emphasis on ghost.” Lance shuddered.

“Yeah, probably just abandoned.” Matt checked the data. “Maybe.”

“Maaaaaaaaaatt!” Lance whined.

“No, no, not like that. Look.” Matt pointed out the information. “There’s one ping of a biorhythm. The systems can’t determine what, but there’s a ping in this town.”

“Oh.” Lance perked up. “That’s nice. Maybe. Hopefully they don’t think we’re the enemy and attack.” He activated his full helmet to protect himself. “You gonna be good?”

“Hopefully; my leg isn’t really tested for extreme temps.” Matt admitted, pulling out his mask from his pouch and putting it on. “Let’s go; you may be on your own, though, if I have complications.”

“Well, let’s make it quick so we can both get back to Blue.” Lance nodded as he headed out, the rebel following him. He got out and went through the snow, surprised it wasn’t too deep. No, perhaps it was just packed. At least his armour did well to protect him. Though Matt’s rebel gear was another story.

“Holy shit!” Matt cried out, bouncing a bit in hopes to stay warm. “What I wouldn’t give to have that heavy suit from the Kerberos mission back! It’s so cold out here, I’m freezing my Italian nay-nays off!” Yup. His uniform didn’t do well in keeping him warm. “Remind me to get Altean wear to put under my uniform when we get back to the castle.”

“I think our expedition may be cut short.” Lance chuckled. “Ready to head back to the li-whoa!” Something caught the paladin’s attention and he tackled Matt out of the way before some figure could attack. “I think I just found the person that pinged with a biorhythm!”

“Yeah, I think that may be clear.” Matt nodded. “Whoa!” He and Lance jumped in opposite directions when the figure went to attack again. “Look, we’re not here to cause problems. If we can just talk it ov-whoa!” Matt narrowly dodged the attack.

Their attacker, whoever they were in their strange, rocky looking armour, didn’t seem very talkative. They seemed to wake up and choose violence that day.

“So, now what?” Lance asked, keeping from getting hit by their attacker’s strikes. “Go on the offensive and fight? Run back to Blue? Throw snowballs at him?” He moved out of the way. “You think name calling will work?”

“They may just be a cautious local.” Matt pointed out. “Okay, violently cautious. Anyway, I’m tempted to take a page from Pidge’s book.” Hearing Matt, the attacker turned their attention to him. They then went at him and Matt was ready to fight back. But there was an issue. He couldn’t move out of the way in time and got knocked back. The attacker was ready to strike again, but Matt went with the next best thing he could think of.

“Whoa! Whoa, man! Time out!” he shouted, actually making the attacker stop.

“Matt!” Lance called, running over to the rebel. “Matt, are you okay?”

“Eh, maybe gonna bruise, but…” Matt pulled up his pant leg, checking on the prosthetic. “Yup, figured. This leg isn’t meant for these sub-zero temps.” He then looked to the attack. “Okay, look man, we’re not here to cause problems. And this cold is gonna kick my ass more than you are. So can we just call it a day, get along, and let us get back to the blue lion so I can thaw out?” He sighed and checked his leg again. “The cold is messing with the mechanics, and frostbite where it connects is probably gonna follow.”

“Damn…” Lance mumbled.

“A lion…” the figure said, their accent thicker than their armour. The armour then dissipated and he showed his face, looking like a scruffy Earthling. Did they actually find an Earthling out there on the frozen planet? It didn’t seem possible. “As in Voltron? But that is no Voltron lion. You are clearly impostors.”

“What the ruggle?” Matt inquired.

“Uh… what?” Lance blinked. “Come again? Because last I checked, that is a lion a Voltron. You know, defender of the universe? Built like a thousand years ago by Alfor before Altea was destroyed? Yeah, Voltron.”

The figure was silent as he watched the others. “Who are you?” he inquired. “You are not the pilot I know and that is not the blue lion I know. Where is Allura? She should be piloting the lion.”

“Um… Princess Allura?” Lance blinked. “She doesn’t pilot a lion. I mean, she’s tried piloting Green for a certain reason, but…”

“Allura? In the green lion?” The figure was taken by surprise by that concept. “But that is Pidge’s lion.”

“Yeah, but there are reasons why she’d try to take over for my sister.” Matt mused.

“Sister?” The figure seemed even more confused than usual. “Pidge is a boy.”

“I get she’s androgynous and doesn’t care about what pronouns someone uses for her, but no, Pidge is a girl.” Matt said. “I should know. I helped change her diaper as a baby.”

“Uh… Matt?” Lance spoke up. “I don’t think this is helping.”

“Matt? An Earth name…” The figure was perplexed. “Just who are you, two? Why are you here?”

“Um, I’m Lance. Paladin of the blue lion.” Lance greeted. He then pointed to Matt. “That’s Matt. Big brother of Pidge; Pidge pilots Green. We’re paladins of Voltron; not Matt, he’s a rebel. But Pidge, me, Hunk, Keith, and Shiro.”

The man was even more confused. “Lance?” He asked. “But the Lance I know pilots red lion.”

“Uh… no?” Lance was just as confused.

“Huh? Oh. Ooh.” Matt was having an epiphany. “I know what’s going on! Or at least I think I do.” He then shivered. “But. Uh, can we get somewhere warm first? Because I am not built for the cold and my leg even less so. Also, names would be nice.”

The figure nodded. “I am Sven.” he introduced himself. “Let us return you to your lion to warm up; I can lead you to my base then.”

On the way to Sven’s base, Matt explained what he thought was going on. Once at the base, Sven helped set the rebel up with thermal wear to help protect his leg.

“Another reality?” Lance asked, watching as Matt wrapped his prosthetic up. “Like from that Royal Spirits game series?”

“Pretty much.” Matt nodded. “I think there was a manga series with different realities, too. And one where you ran the chance of meeting people you knew from your own reality. But it’s not too far fetched. Other cultures I’ve met as a rebel would talk of such legends. And with Sven knowing of Voltron but differently, it feels very likely.”

“And that wormhole led us here?” Lance questioned. “How? We’ve done like a bajillion wormhole jumps and that’s never happened.”

“I’m… uh, not entirely sure.” Matt admitted. “For now. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”

“Other realities.” Sven mused as he brought over a jacket for Matt to wear. “It is not just your reality that tells stories. Back on Pollux, my old home, others would tell tales of how ancients long ago believed many universes existed along side one another, but without interacting.”

“Still hard to believe that other realities exist.” Lance mumbled.

“Dude, you and the others pilot semi-sentient flying cats, even allowing my completely blind sister pilot one.” Matt reminded. “I think anything would be possible by this point.”

“Oh. Right.” Lance nodded. “Okay, that’s fair.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sven spoke up, “your Pidge is blind? Like injured and lost sight but kept fighting?

“No, she was born blind.” Matt explained. “She can’t even detect light. But it doesn’t stop her and the green lion still chose her.” He rubbed the back of his head as he chuckled nervously. “Admittedly, some of us have tried piloting her lion instead, but only because we want her safe. But the lion rejected us.”

“Not that her out there fighting is too bad.” Lance reminded. “She’s got a good team on her side; we’ve got her back. Especially Regris since he sticks with her.” He then rubbed his head. “She’s also pretty dangerous on her own, too. She always manages to save herself when captured.”

“I see. A girl and blind.” Sven nodded, thinking it over. “The Pidge I know is a boy and can see. But this is interesting. And you, Lance, pilot the blue lion, but the Lance I know pilots the red one.”

“Anyway, another reality.” Lance mused. “I wonder where the others are.”

“Go figure.” Matt shrugged. “But I’m sure we’ll find them. Or, well, they’ll find us.”

“Until then, you two are welcome to stay here and stay warm.” Sven offered, no longer finding them to be a threat and wishing to be hospitable to apologize for his earlier hostility.

Chapter Text

“Whoa! Just how were these lions made? Yours is doing great in these cold temps!” Vince exclaimed, in awe of the black lion’s durability.

“Yeah, we don’t know as much about them being made, only that Allura’s father made them.” Shiro informed. He then looked ahead, spotting the blue lion near a base of sorts. “Blue lion spotted. That means it’s Lance and Matt that’s here.”

“And Matt is who?” Daniel asked.

“Pidge and Chip’s older brother.” Shiro explained. “He and I were crewmates on the Kerberos mission, along with his parents.” He then opened a comms channel. “Matt, Lance, do you copy? This is Shiro and I have sights on the blue lion.”

“Shiro?” came Lance’s voice. “Hey, man! Am I glad to hear you!”

“Hey, Shiro, we’re here. In the base, actually. And we kinda met up with this viking.” Matt chimed in.

“Viking?” Shiro asked, confused.

“That’d be Sven!” Daniel perked up. “He’s alive! I mean, we were sure he was. See, he’s the former pilot of the blue lion. But then he got attacked by Haggar’s cat and was forced to retire.” he explained, happy to drop the information. “Then a while back he came and stole the blue lion to use as a bargaining chip to get a cure for himself and his son from Haggarium, but there isn’t actually a cure yet for it in Sven but his son was fine. And then he fought alongside the rest of the force in the blue lion before just throwing himself out of the lion to fight and wreck Lotor!”

“That was a lot of info to drop.” Shiro commented, actually amused by how enthused Daniel was. “Anyway, Lance, we’re going to come in for a landing. See you guys soon.” He then saw something charging from the distance. “What the heck? Guys! We’ve got incoming! It looks like some sort of elephant robeast!”

“Right! We’ll get to Blue!” Lance confirmed. It didn’t take long for the blue lion to be occupied and take off.

“Good news, Shiro, that’s not an elephant.” Matt pointed out. “It’s actually more like a mastodon.”

“Okay, Matt, tone down the nerdiness.” Lance ordered. “But it looks like even coming to another reality doesn’t keep us from dealing with robeasts.”

“You’re already aware of this being another reality?” Shiro asked.

“It was a theory.” Matt responded. “Why? Am I right?”

“Yeah, that’s what we’ve determined.” Shiro nodded.

“Uh, guys?” Larmina spoke up. “Yeah, this is nice and all, but can we worry more about the robeast? And maybe call for backup?”

“Wait, who was that?” Lance questioned.

“Some cadets we met. I’ll explain more.” Shiro confirmed. “You kids think you can get in touch with those back at Arus?”

“Yeah, I’ll get on it.” Vince nodded. While he worked on getting in touch with the others, Shiro and Lance got right on fighting the Robeast.

-+-+-+-

“Welcome back.” Ulaz greeted as the others returned. Bae Bae barked at his side.

“Where’s Shiro and the cadets?” the red coded commander inquired. “I figured at least Daniel would still be snuggling Bae Bae.”

“There was a hit on one of the lions.” Ulaz reported. “So Shiro went out to find them and the cadets accompanied him, especially so he could find his way. I believe they said the planet was Crydor.”

“Crydor?” Pidge perked up. “I wonder if Sven’s okay… hopefully he doesn’t get spooked by a strange lion showing up.”

“Should we go after them and help out?” Sergeant Hunk inquired.

“If it’s a simple retrieval, they should be fine.” Keith assured. “But… hmm…” Even getting Hunk was a simple retrieval, though the paladin and Chip still had issues with Kalon and his people being unsure. But avoiding Sven, if he was still there and okay, would prove to be easier, right? He then looked when the computer gave off a tone.

“Someone’s contacting us.” Ulaz reported. He brought it up on screen, Vince’s face shown instantly.

Before anyone could ask what was going on, the cadet spoke up. “We’ve got a robeast problem on Crydor!”

“Yeah, that mastodon one?” Daniel popped in near Vince. “It’s not destroyed. It’s back! Shiro and this other Lance are doing what they can, though.”

“Try to hold out, guys; we’ll be on our way.” Keith assured. Communications were cut. “Okay, team, we need to head out there an-”

“Keith, I’d hate to be the bearer of bad news, but our lions can’t handle the cold of Crydor. And we’ll lose energy too quick as Voltron.” Pidge reminded. “They’re better off fleeing, but…”

“Our lions might be able to handle things.” Katie said.

“But, Pidge, we’re down a lion.” Hunk pointed out. “We don’t have our Keith.”

“Well, we might still be able to manage.” Katie said. “C’mon!”

“I’m going with!” Pidge called, going after Katie when she took off. “I can help direct you guys there.” He looked to Keith. “Is that alright?”

“Okay, but be careful.” Keith nodded.

Pidge nodded and went with Katie and Regris to the green lion while Hunk went to his yellow lion, Chip tagging along to help him out as needed. With the pilot of that reality directing them, they were able to reach the frozen planet with relative ease, a quick scan helping them to locate the other paladins.

“Whoa, what is this energy reading?” Chip asked. “It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before.”

“Haggarium; robeasts these days are made with it. It’s this horribly vile stuff and Voltron’s weakness, especially if we don’t have Vince to help neutralize it.” Pidge reported. “So watch out.”

“Copy that.” Katie nodded. “Hey, Hunk, do you think mastodons like plants?”

“Probably to eat, but not to be caught by.” Hunk hummed. “How about you see if a hagarrium fueled mastodon robeast likes plants?”

“I was thinking just that!” Katie activated her vine cannon as they came in towards the others and shot the robeast, causing vines to burst from around it and entangle it. “Direct hit!”

“I know those vines! Pidgey!” Lance cheered, his face coming up on the screen. “And Hunk! Hey guys!”

“Glad to have you two here. Your timing’s great.” Shiro said.

“You know us, Shiro. You just can’t keep us away.” Katie hummed.

“Yeah, anyone who throws Pidge away, he just comes right back for more.” Hunk chuckled.

“He?” Sven, who was in the blue lion with Matt and Lance, looked confused. “But I was told that the other Pidge was a girl?”

“Wait… what?” Pidge blinked and looked to Katie. “And we kept calling you a boy and you didn’t correct us?”

“Uh, can we talk about that later? We’ve got a robeast to deal with.” Katie stated.

“I agree.” Larmina spoke up. “So, uh, how do we deal with this? You guys are down a lion, so no Voltron. Didn’t the others come with?”

“Um… no.” Pidge responded. “Our lions can’t handle this cold weather. So we’ll have to make do with these four lions.”

“Right.” Shiro agreed. “We can do this. Lance, Hunk, use your jaw blades and hit it from either side. Pidge, keep that thing immobile with the vines.”

“Copy that!” the team confirmed, getting right on it. They wasted no time to fight the mastodon robeast, working as the perfect team and in sync. For a team with less experience, they definitely impressed the cadets with how well they worked together.

“Okay, team, let’s hit this thing again. Consecutive strikes.” Shiro ordered. “On me!” He took the lead as he went along the robeast’s back with the black lion’s jaw blade; Hunk and Lance flanked it once more and then Katie followed up, striking the back again. This time, the robeast blew up, indicating that it was finally destroyed.

“Great job, guys!” Pidge exclaimed. “You did it!”

“You guys actually destroyed it!” Daniel cheered. “Without forming Voltron!”

“Hell yeah! We’re awesome!” Lance shouted.

“Good work, team.” Shiro praised, landing the black lion; this prompted the others to land, too.

With the robeast destroyed, the others decided to depart a bit, especially for Pidge to meet with Sven, talk to him, and even get scans and blood samples. While he did that, the cadets and younger paladins decided to play a bit in the snow. Or suffer because Regris preferred the warmer climate of Ariel and Katie was struggling. Being unable to watch her step and properly feel her way, she kept falling.

“You good?” Regris picked up the green paladin by the back of her armour.

“I can’t feel where I’m going.” Katie grumbled. “This sucks.”

“Need me to carry you?”

“Nah, I’m fine.” Katie waved it off. “Anyone can trip out here; at least if I fall, it’s a soft landing.” Regris let out a hmm as he nodded in agreement. “Anyway, how’s your tail?”

“Sven gave me a blanket and Matt strapped it around it to keep it warm. So it’s fine now.” Regris responded. “But it’s still cold out here. I look forward to getting back to Arus. Or even going to Ariel right about now.”

“Yeah, warmth is nice. Though I like the cold and not sweating so much, too.” Katie admitted. She then took a step, falling face first into the snow. “Never mind. This sucks.”

“Hmm?” Vince looked over. “Pidge? Uh… not-my-Pidge, I mean. You good?” Katie gave him a thumbs up as Regris picked her up out of the snow again.

“You know what? Regris and I are hiding in the green lion until it’s time to head back.” Katie called. She then waded through the snow, holding Regris’ arm as he helped guide her.

“Huh…” Vince observed Katie as she moved to her lion.

“Guess not everyone likes the snow.” Daniel stated before getting nailed in the face by a snowball.

“Hell yeah! Eyebull!” Larmina cheered.

“That’s bull’s eye.” Lance corrected with a laugh.

Matt chuckled as he watched the kids play in the snow. He then looked to Pidge and watched as he drew some blood from Sven. “So… this stuff… Haggarium…”

“Yeah, it’s pretty bad stuff. And I think Sven’s is a different strain since he got it from Haggar’s cat years ago.” Pidge said. “But hopefully we can treat it…”

“Let’s talk to Ulaz when we get back.” Matt suggested. He looked to Sven. “He’s a friend of ours. And he’s Galra.”

“We call them Drule.” Pidge clarified. At Sven tensing up, he shook his head. “It’s fine. Apparently Drule, or Galra as they call them, are allies. Or some are.”

“Yeah, not all. But we know a few good ones. Even Regris is part Galra.” Matt informed. “And believe it or not? So is our Keith?”

“What?” Sven sputtered. “That is new.”

“Yeah, but he’s definitely good. And I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise because he’s like one of my brothers.” Matt stated. “Or sick my sister on them. Pidge is definitely protective of her team.”

“Yeah, about that. Sister?” Pidge asked. “So. Like, is she trans or…”

“Nope, born as my sister. Which may have been Auntie Krolia’s saving grace.” Matt said. “Not that she cares about pronouns.”

“They let us just keep calling her a him.” Pidge stated.

“It’s like a game.” Hunk called back. “See, we didn’t even know she was a girl until a week after meeting her ourselves. And no one corrected us. It was amusing to find out how quickly we figured it out; Lance was the last.”

“Yeah, yeah, rub it in.” Lance grumbled.

“A game, huh.” Daniel thought it over. He then smirked. “Hey, can we keep doing that? Hide it from the others? Let them figure it out on their own?”

Pidge opened his mouth to decline that, but he shut it. It would be interesting to see how quickly the others figure it out. Plus, it was harmless fun. “Sure, let’s do that.” he said.

“Sounds like it will be a fun time.” Sven chuckled a bit.

Chapter Text

“Maahox!” Lotor glared at his scientist. “What is this sorcery? Another lion? The potential of more? And this… this… This is not the princess!”

Allura scowled, a bit frustrated with the situation. More than that, though, she was actually annoyed. And restrained near her was none other than Keith in all his fuzzy, Galran glory. Okay, perhaps not full glory, he thankfully got to keep his undersuit on, the rest of his armour confiscated. And he was thoroughly pissed off.

“Actually, my lord, I have a theory.” Maahox informed. “See, in some cultures, people believe in other realities. Even on the planet Callum.”

“You think I care about children’s stories?!” Lotor snapped.

“Of course not, my lord.” Maahox frowned. “But. I do believe it’s possible that these two, along with their lion, came from another reality. It may not be so much of a story, but rather truth.”

“So. Another Voltron of another reality.” Lotor snarled, not exactly thrilled with the idea.

“Yes, with potentially all new mysteries.” Maahox hummed. “If possible, I would like to look into this new red lion.”

“Do with it as you will.” Lotor stated, waving the scientist off. “As for these two. A princess of another reality, and a Drule whelp fighting against his empire.” He glared at Keith. “Disgraceful.”

Keith growled a bit. “What I wouldn’t give for Pidge to show up and beat you senseless.” he told the Drule king of that reality. It didn’t take him much to realize that Drule and Galra were one in the same. And while he would love to beat Lotor to a pulp himself, it was still satisfying to watch Katie do it instead; at least then he could enjoy snacks while watching the show.

“As amusing as that would be, we could handle this ourselves.” Allura mused. Keith nodded in agreement, already sure of what Allura was planning.

Lotor let out a harsh laugh. “Hah! You think you can handle this? You’re my prisoners, princess.”

“I don’t know how the princess you know is, but you either don’t pay attention or we’re very different.” Allura smirked. She then let her body change size, growing to be much larger than before and breaking her restraints. “And you’ve made a mistake in messing with us!”

-+-+-+-

“Hmm?” Had it not been for the dim glow of screens and images moving and the sounds of beeps, Commander Keith never would have guessed that someone was in there. He stepped into the room, activating the lights to see better, spotting fluffy brown hair, a shade or two lighter and definitely fluffier than a certain brunette he knew well. He opened his mouth to speak up.

“Oh, Commander Keith.” Katie could hear the commander’s steps as he entered, already picking up how he walked compared to the others. It struck him as similar to Shiro’s, but still distinct enough. “Up pretty late, huh?”

“More like early; we’re like an hour before sunrise.” Keith informed as he walked over. He looked to see Katie just sitting with the screens, occasionally touching them and pulling away before touching elsewhere. Hovering near her was Rover, which didn’t seem off. Until Keith heard the beeping. Low battery? “Were you up all night?”

“I wasn’t tired. And I was keeping busy.” Katie stated. “I told the others to head to bed while I worked on figuring out where the red lion ended up with our Keith and Allura. So far? The algorithm isn’t going well. I had to spend some time fixing the system to be double modulated; a single modulated system is flawed, you know. And then there’s the fact that it’s not exactly colour coded.”

“Pretty picky about tech, huh?” Keith couldn’t help but chuckle. He then watched as Katie continued to work, her reactions seeming slower than Pidge’s as she poked at the screen. In addition to that, Rover kept on beeping, the tones at first almost annoying and then sounding patterned.

Katie then perked up at the door opening and closing and steps coming in. Keith looked to see that it was Commander Lance. Before he could speak up, Katie did. “Good morning, Lance. Or should I say Commander Lance? You know, so no one is confused about names and titles.”

“Huh?” Commander Lance was caught in a yawn.

Keith looked to Katie. She didn’t even look back and knew it was him. He then paid attention as she worked at the screens. Her eyes weren’t moving. They didn’t seem to look at any spot on the screens and just stared ahead.

It then donned on him.

Was Katie blind? Was she relying on sounds? Perhaps, he realized, Rover was using something akin to Morse code to translate information to her? But why mention colour coding? Or was that for the drone?

Keith opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off.

“Hey, where’s the pup?” Commander Lance inquired, walking over.

“I think she went to sleep in Daniel’s room.” Katie mused. “He was really fond of having a dog around, I told him she could if she wanted to.” Katie sniffed. “Mm. Coffee. Any extra?”

“In the kitchen; I’d offer mine, but it’s not very sweet. Pidge prefers his coffee super sweet.” Commander Lance stated.

“Can I taste it?”

“Sure.” Commander Lance set the mug down nearby, the clack catching Katie’s attention. The teen picked it up and sipped it. “You prefer sweet coffee, too?”

“I think you need to get yourself another cup.” Katie took another drink.

“Hey now, that’s my favourite mug.” the red lion pilot stated, pretending to look appalled.

“Don’t see why, it looks like any other mug to me.” Katie hummed.

Keith blinked. No it didn’t? It literally said you are this close to being on my shit list. It was special to his fellow commander. But that comment really set it in him that Katie was indeed blind.

“Hah! Cheeky brat.” commander Lance laughed out as he ruffled Katie’s hair. “So, what’s up? Finding anything?”

“That your Pidge really needs to up his computer skills and modulating. And a few things from studying space maps and figuring out where my Keith and Allura are.” Katie stated, taking another drink of the coffee. She then set it down, not minding when she heard Lance take it back to drink from again. At least neither of them were against sharing a cup. He set it back down for Katie.

“Ew, really?” Pidge asked, walking in with his twin. “Dude! Mouth germs! Lance! What are you doing giving your mouth germs to my mini me!”

“Hey, he’s not complaining.” commander Lance chuckled.

“I’ve shared ice cream cones with Bae Bae; I think I can handle the commander’s germs.” Katie stated. “I’m a big kid. I’m not afraid of old man cooties.”

“Oh, you wound me, little bro.” commander Lance put his hands over his chest, feigning a hurt look.

“He… shares… with…” Ninja Chip’s ears drooped as his complexion paled. He then covered his mouth and ran off, the idea of sharing an ice cream cone with a dog like that making him sick.

“Okay… that is gross. How are you a mini me? That’s just blasphemous to the pidgeness.” Pidge commented, feeling sick at that thought.

“Because I’m not weak like you.” Katie smirked.

“Haha! Man, I am loving this cheeky brat.” commander Lance laughed out. “I mean, that is gross, but hey, I’m not gonna judge, I’ve done that, too.”

“You guys are disgusting.” Pidge shook his head.

“You know you love us, Pidge.” Commander Lance grinned. He then looked back when there was a ping on the system.

“Oh! I think we got it!” Katie exclaimed. “I think we finally found where Red went!”

“Really?” Pidge perked up, quickly pulling himself from the disgust of Katie and Commander Lance with their content in mouth germs and old man cooties. He went over. “Oh snart.”

“Hmm?” Katie tipped her head to the side. “What’s wrong?”

“That planet…” Pidge brought the data over and projected the galactic map. “If Chip’s algorithms are right-”

“My algorithms are always right!” ninja Chip snapped as he returned.

“-then the red lion crashed on planet Doom.” Pidge looked concerned. “We need to act quick; there’s a risk that Lotor would take your Keith and princess prisoner.”

“Then that’s his problem.” Katie stated.

“Dude, that’s cold.” Commander Lance chuckled.

“It’s true. My Keith is stubborn and hotheaded and the only one not afraid to train with me.” Katie informed. “And Allura’s got some cool tricks up her sleeves; Alteans are neat, you know. Plus, she’s pretty strong. Both of them are strong.” She waved it off. “I mean, I’m not saying we should abandon them. We should definitely go to get them. But it’s not like we need to be tripping over ourselves to help. Anyone who takes them prisoner is probably going to be given hell. And if not by them? Then me when I find them.” She smiled brightly. “Because no one messes with my space family without properly addressing me first.”

The pilots and ninja there just stared. Though she looked adorable and appeared relatively harmless and one knew for certain she was blind while another was sure he figured it out, but something about those squishy cheeks and bright smile told them that she was probably the most dangerous one around.

“Kid?” Commander Lance spoke up. “Why does it feel like you’re the scariest member of the team?”

“Because he probably is the scariest one.” Shiro hummed as he walked in. “What’s going on?”

“We figured out where your red lion and missing friends are.” Commander Keith stated. “We should get ready to head out and get them.”

“I’ll wake the team then.” Shiro nodded. “It’s about time we reunite everyone.”

Chapter Text

Commander Keith didn’t know about the situation. Going to planet Doom to rescue others? Sure, that was fine. Traveling with the paladins so they could help and reunite with their teammates? He saw nothing wrong with it. Taking the other lions? Hey, if needed, once they got to Red and her paladin, they had an extra Voltron in case Lotor had a big and dangerous trick up his sleeve.

But traveling with the knowledge that one of the paladins was blind?

Sure, it wasn’t confirmed, but Commander Keith would bet just about anything he owned on that being fact. And he was worried. He had several questions going through his mind with the situation.

Did her team know she was blind? How did she pilot the green lion? Obviously her twin would know. Did he keep it a secret? Did Regris know and was helping her fly? What about combat? Surely they would have fights outside of the lions, right? Though it seemed that Regris had her back even in such situations; he even took on Pidge and ninja Chip while Katie piloted her lion.

“Keith?” Pidge spoke up over the comms. “Is something wrong?”

“C’mon, Man, we’ll be at planet Doom soon. And we’ve got the greatest backup ever!” Commander Lance chimed, sounding excited.

“Yeah, I was thinking about that.” Daniel spoke up. “Soon we’ll have two Voltrons. So can’t we just form the two Voltrons and kick Lotor’s a-”

“Negative, Daniel.” Commander Keith cut the cadet off. “We’re best to get in, get my counterpart and the princess, and get out. And we know that no matter how many times we get rid of Lotor, Maahox keeps finding a way to bring him back.”

“Bring him back?” Lance asked. “Like… necromancy?”

“I think it’s more like cloning because we have completely obliterated him before.” Sergeant Hunk informed. “It’s kind of annoying. But. That’s life for us, I guess.”

“It’s actually satisfying killing him a handful of times.” Commander Lance hummed.

“Lance, please.” Allura sighed. “There are children present.”

“Hey! We’re not kids!” Lance whined a bit.

“Dude, you’re seventeen. That’s still a kid. And the twins are like twelve.” Commander Lance reminded.

“We’re fifteen.” Chip sighed. “But… yeah. Still kids.”

“Anyway, look alive, team; we’ll be reaching planet Doom soon.” Commander Keith informed.

It didn’t take much for them to finish getting to their destination. As they landed, Hunk started searching for the signal of Allura and Keith’s uniforms, quickly finding them. “Okay, it looks like they’re in that construction zone.” he pointed out.

“So, let’s just go grab them.” Daniel stated.

“Hold off, Danny boy.” Commander Lance ordered. “You can knock stuff down and crush them under the scaffolding.”

“On top of that, it looks like we’ve got a few battleships coming in.” Shiro pointed out. “Keith, I’ve got a suggestion. Our lions can handle those battleships. You guys can scout out and secure the red lion. And with our extra members, we can send down a ground team to search for our princess and our Keith.”

Commander Keith nodded. That did sound like a good plan. He opened his mouth to confirm it and give his team the orders, but a new voice spoke up.

Katie.

“Not to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty good at tracking. And if anyone can find Keith? It’d be me.” Katie stated. “And looking at general scans, we don’t need all of our lions on those fighters. With ease, Regris and I can be part of the ground team. Along with Matt as another close combat fighter and my twin, Chip, since he’s a ranged fighter.”

“No.” Commander Keith stated, his voice firm. “You’ll stay with your lion.”

“No offense, Commander, but I’m a skilled tracker. I’ve even managed to find Keith in the desert playing hide and seek.” Katie retorted.

“No, cadet.” the commander snapped. “Stay with your lion. That’s an order!”

The look on Katie’s face was on of brief shock. Did he really just call her a cadet? And give her a direct order like that? Lance could be heard whispering oh shit over the comms.

“I may call you a commander, but that does not mean you hold rank over me!” Katie snapped. She slammed Green down on the ground. “You can’t tell me what to do!”

“Cadet? Cadet Pidge!” Commander Keith shouted. He then watched as the lion’s mouth opened up and Katie and Regris both jumped out. “You have got to be kidding me!”

“Yeah… Pidge really doesn’t take orders well, huh?” Lance mumbled. He looked to Matt. “Well, here’s your stop.”

“Yup.” Matt nodded as he went to leave the blue lion, jumping out and using his jetpack to lower him. From the yellow lion, Chip did the same. “Don’t worry, Commander, we’ve got Pidgey’s back!”

“More like Pidge is gonna have our backs.” Chip snorted a bit.

Ninja Chip chuckled a bit. He then patted Sergeant Hunk’s head. “Okay, I’m going out to help them. Have fun.”

“Will do, buddy.” Sergeant Hunk hummed.

“Okay, Daniel, take over.” Commander Lance ordered.

“Wait, seriously?” Daniel perked up. Hearing that was the second best dream come true. First best would have been if he was in the black lion and could fly instead.

“Follow orders; if you don’t, I’ll know and you’ll get worse than latrine duty.” the red lion pilot pointed out as he got up. “I’m going out to help them. Remember, follow orders!” He then dropped out of the lion.

“Hell yeah! Lion time!” Daniel jumped into the main seat. He then froze. “Wait… dammit! Lance is going out to have the fun while I’m stuck piloting and following orders?!”

“Now it hits him.” Larmina chuckled. “Anyway, I should-”

“No, you stay here.” her aunt ordered. “We can’t have too large of a presence on the ground.”

“Fine.” Larmina rolled her eyes.

“Okay, so in that scaffolding area.” Commander Lance stated.

“It’s a lot of ground to cover, but we got this.” ninja Chip assured. He then looked over his counterpart, spotting his guns. “Hey. Mind if I have that blaster on your back? And one of those handguns?”

“Sharpshooter?” Chip grinned as he shared his guns.

“C’mon. We’ll go high and cover these guys.” Ninja Chip pulled his counterpart along. “We’ve got your backs, guys! Lance, get along with my other-reality siblings!”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya.” Commander Lance chuckled. He then activated his voltcom, ready to hit any soldiers with a fiery punch.

The group on the ground traversed the construction zone, keeping an eye out for Keith and Allura while the Chips kept above them, watching for enemies and allies alike. The one who couldn’t see, Katie, was listening, focusing on the sounds around her. She put her staff out, making Commander Lance run into it.

“Hey, what’s-”

“Shh.” Katie hushed. “Two o’clock. I hear footsteps. Heavier. Not Keith or Allura.”

“Drule soldiers then.” Commander Lance nodded. “Good ear, kiddo. Hey, Chips, you guys have a visual?”

“That’s a negative.” ninja Chip informed. “There’s too much in the way; even if we could see them, it’d be a tight shot.” He looked to his counterpart as he checked with the sniper-styled rifle. “Any better for you?”

“No. It’s too obscured.” Chip shook his head. “Ground team, you’re going to have incoming soon. Be on guard.”

“Got it.” Commander Lance confirmed. He then smirked when he saw the soldiers, there only being a few. “Time for some fun.” He was ready to go and punch the first soldier, but he was stunned when Katie ran ahead of him, smacking the first one in the family jewels and shocking him. Literally. “Uh…”

“Jeez, take Pidge to another reality, he still hits others with that shot.” Matt chuckled and shook his head. He then looked as Regris joined in, grabbing Katie and tossing her at another soldier so he could get the next one.

“Well damn, I came here for fun and they just jump in ahead of me!” Commander Lance stated.

“Yeah, they’re definitely battle ready.” Matt mused. He then grinned when the commander ran over to assist before things got out of hand or he missed out on all the fun. “So. Why did I come along? To look pretty or something?”

“Eh, comic relief, probably.” Chip snickered. He watched through his rifle’s scope, seeing Matt flip him off. “Love you, too, bro.”

“Your family is really something.” ninja Chip stated.

“Should meet our mother; then you’d see where we get it from.” Chip admitted. “Anyway, look alive, guys. More have picked up on the fight. We’ll try and take them down from here, but we need to act quick so we can find Keith and Allura.”

“Copy that.” Matt nodded.

A few fights along the way, the others were able to keep going, the Chips helping in keeping an eye out for things and shooting at soldiers when possible. Thankfully, despite the fights that had broken out already, things were relatively calm; with eight lions out there and fighting, the Drule forces had to focus their firepower in more important areas.

“Hold up.” Katie stopped them again.

“More soldiers?” Commander Lance inquired.

“Hmm…” Katie listened. “Kinda.” She pulled the commander back in time for a soldier to be flung past and crashing into a wall. “Seems like he took the express route.”

“Ow, that has gotta hurt.” the commander stated.

“Pidge!” came a jovial cry. The princess came running past, back to her regular size. She then grabbed the green paladin and hugged her. “You’re okay!”

“Don’t sound like you worried about me, I wasn’t the one that dropped in on a hostile planet in another reality.” Katie laughed out, getting free. “Hey, Keith. Having fun?”

“No, Allura keeps fighting them so I’m left just following her.” Keith stated, walking over. They even went through the trouble to get him his armour back, but he still didn’t get the chance to fight. Oh well.

“What the… you’re…” Commander Lance’s eyes widened. He did not expect to see Keith as a Galran, or Drule as he’d still put it. Even with the helmet on, he could still see that purple face and golden sclera.

“Guys, meet Commander Lance.” Matt interjected. “We’re in another reality, most of us seem to have counterparts, this is Lance’s, but he pilots the red lion and not blue. Keith, your counterpart may be hating Pidge now for not obeying orders. And the others are working to secure your lion so we can get the ruggle out of here. And Commander? Keith’s Galra, yes, but he’s a good guy. And if you give him trouble, well, it’s your funeral because he’s like a brother to Pidge, Chip, and me since we were raised together and we protect our family.”

“Right.” Commander Lance nodded, managing to keep up with the rebel’s words. “Uh… so. Time to get ready to get to the lions and head out?”

“Sounds good to me.” Keith nodded.

Chapter Text

“You disobeyed a direct order, cadet!” Commander Keith nearly shouted at Katie. He was upset. She was blind and she disobeyed his orders and went off on her own. Sure, she was with a few others who had her back, but that didn’t make things better. It didn’t put the commander at ease. And it was less about orders being disobeyed and more about the fact that this was a blind child who thought she could do the same as everyone else.

Little did he know, though, was the Katie could definitely do much of what the others could and even had skills they didn’t.

“Okay, look, Keith,” Commander Lance went up to his fellow pilot and commander, “I get it, he went against your orders. But he’s not our cadet. And Shiro didn’t tell him to stay in his lion. Plus, we had his back out there.”

“You’re excusing this behaviour?” Commander Keith shot his Lance a bit of a look. “What if it was our cadets? Orders are there to protect the team. I get it, Cadet Pidge and the others aren’t our cadets. But they are our responsibility while in our reality.”

“I’m not excusing anyone’s behaviour. I’m just…” Commander Lance was actually at a loss of words and ideas. Yeah, the kid was disobedient. He’d have had all the words and lectures if it were one of his cadets, especially Daniel. But this situation was very different from what he was used to.

“Look, your orders for me to remain put sucked ass.” Katie responded; Commander Lance was left without words, but the green paladin definitely wasn’t. “I was needed on the ground more than anything because I could locate my team better than the others.”

“I disagree.” Commander Keith stepped up.

“Disag-” Katie sputtered a bit. “What the quiznak, man? You don’t even know me! You don’t even know my training! My skills! So your disagreement is not valid.”

“It’s valid enough when I’m face to face with a kid who can’t even see.” Commander Keith stated.

Silence. Shock. Most of the Force’s team there assumed Katie just had poor eyesight since she had glasses; the paladins and their team was wondering if the commander figured out she was blind.

“Yeah, but glasses aren’t a thing to get upset about.” Sergeant Hunk stated. “I mean. Pidgey and Chip here have glasses, too. And they’re prescription; don’t let the fun colours fool ya.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Commander Keith put his hand on top of Katie’s head and tipped her head back; at that gesture, Ulaz and Regris both snarled, not approving of the action; it was Shiro and Keith who got them to settle down and kept them from actually attacking the commander. “You don’t look at the data on the screens, you just listen to patterned beeping. You don’t respond to light, even after a dark room is suddenly lit up. You’re completely blind, aren’t you?”

“Wait… what?” Daniel’s jaw dropped. A minute ago, he was enjoying the show, happy to not be at the business end of a lecture and chastising. Now he was just confused and shocked. “Wait… their Pidge is blind? Like dark glasses and a walking stick blind?!” He looked to his fellow cadets. “Did anyone else know this?! I mean, she doesn’t act like she’s blind!” He then slapped his own hands over his mouth. In his shock, he forgot that Katie’s pronouns were a slight secret to create a game and see if the others could figure it out.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What?” Commander Lance looked to the cadets; Daniel’s reaction told him that it was true and he didn’t mean to say it. “Their Pidge is blind AND a girl?!” He looked to Katie before looking at nothing in particular, running a hand over his head a bit. “Was I hit in the head out there while searching for the other princess and ol’ fuzzy over there?”

“How could anyone allow this? Does your team even know?!” Commander Keith probably didn’t mean to sound so angry, he was just worried, but his tone was furious.

“Commander, stand down.” Shiro coaxed, staying calm. He went over and gently nudged the black lion pilot away from the green paladin. “Look, I get that you’re worried. But…” Shiro looked to Katie. “But this is who our Pidge is. And yeah, we do know. Now. We didn’t know at first, but… when she felt the time was right, she told us. But she likes not telling others. It helps us to see past that disability and right into her skills. Which she’s got quite an arsenal at her disposal.”

“But allowing a blind child as a pilot?” Commander Keith asked.

“It’s not that we allowed her.” The Altean princess stepped up to the two team leaders. “It’s the lions who choose their paladins. And the green lion made it clear that Pidge is its paladin.” She chuckled nervously. “And. Uh. It keeps rejecting us. So. Nothing we can do about it.”

“Others have tried?” Commander Keith. He saw Allura, Chip, and Matt all raise their hands. Even Ulaz, who moved was pore over information and results about Sven’s health once he knew Katie was fine, put his hand up. He then looked to Regris, the only non-paladin who hadn’t put his hand up.

“Everyone respects Pidge, but I seem to respect her differently to not try. She and Green are a team, you know.” Regris stated. “Even Haxus, a fellow Blade back in our reality, has tried. But, Green has been making it clear. Only Pidge can pilot her.”

Commander Keith still hated this. This was a blind child! She was just a kid. Sure, his cadets weren’t too much older than her, but they were training. Katie? She was just thrown into this. She didn’t see any of this being thrown her way. Literally.

But he also had to remind himself that they weren’t of his reality. Sure, while they were guests they were his responsibility to look after, but they weren’t truly his to command. He had no right to dictate who got to be a pilot and who didn’t. And the lions choosing? Seeming to be far pickier than the ones he knew? How could he argue with that?

He wanted to argue, but he knew he couldn’t. He had no ground on the matter.

Commander Keith finally sighed. “I don’t like this. But there isn’t much I can do about it.” he finally admitted. “But cadet, when you’re given and order to stay put, you-”

“Ah, ah, ah.” Katie put her hand up. “I’mma stop you there. You can take that order and shove it up your a-”

“Pidge.” Shiro chastised. Disobeying the other commander? Sure, that was fine. But swearing too much when telling someone off? Shiro had a habit of going into space dad mode.

“I don’t take well to being handled. Pushed around and expected to sit around like some collectible? I’m blind, not a vegetable.” Katie informed. “Look, you have a good idea on a mission, then I’ll probably listen. But if your idea is for me to just sit on the sidelines or in the safety of a lion when I can be useful on the ground simply because I’m blind? Then I’m not listening. That idea is just utter bull.”

“But letting you be out on the ground to fight-” Commander Keith started to say, but he was cut off when Keith pulled his glove off to show his hand, a bite mark scar and fur that hadn’t grown back on top of his hand. “What?”

“She fights. And she bites.” Keith informed. “And that’s just us sparring. She goes full force when she fights others in combat. She’s been kidnapped, sure, and more often than our own princess, but she has a habit of rescuing herself. And these days since meeting Regris? She’s always got someone who has her back on the ground. She can handle her own well enough and she’s far from alone. She has her combat buddy and the rest of the team on her side.”

Commander Keith took in what he was told. They really did paint Katie as a fierce warrior. He then opened his mouth to speak again, but, once again, his fuzzy Galran counterpart spoke instead.

“Also, consider this your first, last, and only warning.” Keith stated. “Handle Pidge too much-”

“You guys will fight me on it?” Commander Keith finished.

“No. She’ll give you what for with that staff of hers.” Keith informed. “She got so pissed off when Shiro lectured me about sparring with her and she got hurt and I started avoiding training with her, she smacked us both around like rag dolls. So if you try to handle her too much? You’re going to get hit. And she hits hard.”

Commander Keith shut his mouth. He then looked to Katie. Small. Blind. She looked so thin. Just how strong was she? He made the mistake of voicing that. “No offense, but how strong can she be? She’s so-” He didn’t get the chance to finish as he got smacked in the head and swiped right off his feet. He sat up and looked in shock when the staff smacked down right between his legs, narrowly missing the family jewels. He then looked up, eyes wide.

“I had to use a bit of math from hearing where your rear hit the ground to make sure I missed the goodies.” Katie smirked. “Any other questions?” The commander just stared. “Hello?”

“Uh… I think he’s good on questions.” Shiro chuckled. He then patted Katie’s back. “You made your point.”

“Good!” Katie hummed as she walked over and away from Commander Keith. She stopped near Daniel when he spoke up.

“Uh. Yeah, I have a question, actually.” Daniel stated. “So their Pidge is not only younger, but also blind?” He motioned to Katie who just smiled. “And she’s piloting a lion full time? So what about us? Doesn’t this show we’re ready to pilot the lions more?”

“In your dreams, Daniel.” Commander Lance stated. “Their circumstances are different and they didn’t try to steal lions for a joy ride.”

“I mean, that mission went well!” Daniel protested.

“While still unauthorized. Nice try.” Commander Lance shook his head. “Anyway… I get not telling us your Pidge is blind. But the whole girl thing?” He looked Katie over. Even donning her overalls and croptop, she was still androgynous as hell. He knew that his own Pidge wore clothes like that, too.

“It’s a slight game to see who notices because most assume her to be a boy from the start.” Chip informed. “It’s actually amusing.”

“Right.” Commander Lance nodded. “Okay. Well. This has been one hell of a day and it’s not even noon. I’m going to get coffee. You want some, tinier Pidge? Then get your own cup. I need my big mug to myself.” He then took off, leaving the area to get what he needed.

“I’m always down for coffee. And maybe some breakfast.” Katie hummed, following where she heard Commander Lance’s footsteps leaving.

Chapter Text

“Okay, I gotta ask.” Vince looked over. He had a few suspicions on Katie’s sight, or there lack of, but after the fight with Commander Keith, it was confirmed. This only left him with questions as he and his fellow cadets hung out with some of the paladins and their team. “How do you even pilot the lion? I would think that’d be difficult because you’re blind. Like, can you see a bit?”

“Doesn’t blind mean she can’t see? At all?” Larmina asked.

“Actually, there are varying types of blindness.” Pidge spoke up, looking at medical details with Ulaz still. “Most people who are considered legally blind have some form of visibility. Some can see shapes and colours, then there’s perceiving light.”

“Actually, Larmina’s right with my situation.” Katie informed. “I’m completely blind. I can’t even visually detect light. But depending on the area, I can tell if the lights are turned on because of a buzzing sound of electricity and energy. It’s easier back home at Chief’s place, but I’m learning in the castle. Though this castle is a bit easier to hear than ours.”

“Right. So, to repeat the question.” Daniel stated. “How do you even pilot the lion?” He looked to Rover as Regris worked on him, updating him with some schematics for the castle so he could help Katie navigate. “Is he like this seeing eye drone for you? Rover?” He then pet Bae Bae, happy to have the dog’s presence and desire for the attention. “Because. Uh. I don’t think Bae Bae is much of a seeing eye dog? Especially in space.”

“Bae Bae helps with a little, even without training. But mainly around the castle or in safe areas or back home on Earth to keep me from running into or tripping over things.” Katie informed. “And Rover helps a lot in combat, alerting me to enemy locations if I don’t hear them myself. Except people keep knocking him offline.”

“It was a bad situation and he was annoying me with his beeping!” ninja Chip exclaimed, making his counterpart snort with laughter. “Didn’t stop you from fighting, though.”

“Rover helps. But I can fight on my own.” Katie grinned.

“So. He helps you fly?” Larmina asked.

“Not really. Not anymore.” Katie shook her head. “See, we bond with our lions. We kinda feel them. And their desires. And through Green, I feel her surroundings. And I see what she sees. But it’s not in a way that others seem to see.”

“And you know how others see?” Larmina asked.

“I mean, she would if she lost her sight.” Vince stated.

“No, Larmina’s on it again.” Katie pointed out. “I was born completely blind. But I learned to understand sight through Altean tech since we have these weird mind melding devices we used before to help strengthen our bonds as a team.” She thought back to it. “I hated it at first. But slowly the others and I’ve been using it at times so I can understand other things. Especially colour. And seeing stars through their memories. It’s actually pretty neat.”

“Sounds like a lot of hassle.” Larmina stated.

“But worth it.” Lance hummed. “And it’s been fun. So long as we’re not reading our Pidge’s mind. It’s a bit hard to understand.”

“That’s because she thinks in binary. And a short-hand binary. And whatever binary code she and Chip and Matt came up with.” Hunk added. “Pidge’s brain is an interesting one. So is Chip’s for that matter.”

“Wow, they are outnerding our Chip and Pidge.” Daniel commented. He then looked when the doors open.

“Kiddos! Visitors! Doctor.” Commander Lance motioned to Ulaz with that last one. “I have come up with a genius idea that the Alluras and Shiro think would be great and we’re dragging the commander’s grumpy ass into it!” He grinned brightly. “We are taking a field trip to Earth!”

“Seriously?!” Lance perked up, looking excited.

“Earth! Beloved Earth!” Hunk nearly sobbed. “I mean, I get that it’s not our reality, but it still sounds wonderful!”

Chip grinned. “Earth sounds good. But. Uh… We don’t have money for anything… and I wouldn’t mind getting peanut butter…”

“We have you covered.” Princess Allura said. “We’re arranging for each of you to have funds. That way you can buy souvenirs. And food and other supplies you may crave and need, since Shiro informed us that it’s been a while since you’ve been back home. Don’t worry, we’ll have you covered.” She smiled and looked to her Altean counterpart. “That sounds fine, right?”

“We greatly appreciate it; I just wish we had a way to repay you.” Allura stated.

“No need to worry about that. You’re our guests and we want to make sure this visit is enjoyable.” Princess Allura stated. “I know it’s important to help you guys find your way back home, but until then? A trip sounds good.” She chuckled a bit. “Even I would like to go to Earth to spend time, see the sights and food of there.”

“Uh… princesses?” Keith spoke up. “There’s an issue. Three of us are Galra. Which, to this reality? That means Drule. Which are a perceived threat here.” He tugged at some of the fur on his arm. “We’re kinda obvious. At least Ulaz and I are.”

“Oh quiznak.” Allura gasped, having momentarily forgotten that in her excitement.

“Oh dear… that is a problem.” Princess Allura admitted.

“It would make things difficult.” Commander Keith stated.

“Dammit… I didn’t think of that.” Shiro grumbled. “Keith, Ulaz, I’m-”

“Nah, don’t worry.” Keith waved it off. “Just bring back something nice. Besides, we can defend the palace while you’re out. With me here, we’ll have one lion available. Just in case Lotor decides to make an attack or something while you’re out.”

“Two lions.” Katie stated.

“What?” Everyone looked to the green paladin.

“Two. I’m staying here.”

“Pidgey!” Lance cried out. “C’mon! This is Earth we’re talking about! Bright blue skies! The prettiest sunsets! Pizza! Shops! Maybe a boardwalk!”

“Yeah, well, you’ve seen nothing once, you’ve seen it a thousand times.” Katie waved it off.

“Oh. Right. Blind.” Lance blinked. Sometimes he found himself forgetting she was blind. He wasn’t the only one as his team constantly did the same thing.

“Look, if you find any books in braille, pick up a few. I haven’t read anything good lately. You know, since being hurtled into space by your expert flying.” Katie stated. “And peanut butter.”

“Braille?” Larmina asked.

“It’s a form of writing, utilizing raised bumps in certain patterns corresponding with letters, numbers, and punctuation marks.” Chip explained.

“Wouldn’t an audiobook be better?” Pidge asked.

“Eh, little sis likes reading on her own.” Matt waved it off. “Even as an even smaller and younger Pidgey, when she could read it herself, she didn’t even want Mom, Dad, Chief, or Auntie Krolia reading to her.”

“Would they even have braille books anymore?” Commander Lance asked. “I thought most stuff was moved onto audiobooks?”

“In retro shops, you may be able to find something.” Sergeant Hunk assured.

“Anyway, Pidge,” Shiro looked to Katie, “are you sure about staying here? You and Keith both?”

“I’m fine with it.” Keith nodded. “I don’t want to cause issues. Or deal with crowding.”

“I’m content right here.” Katie hummed. She nudged Regris. “How about you? You can go you know. From my understanding, you don’t appear as Galran.”

“Nn-nn.” Regris shook his head. “I’m fine being here. I can back you up if anything happens. Or finally make you take a nap.”

“I don’t need a nap.”

“You do.”

“I don’t.”

“Yes. You do.” Regris stood up and grabbed Katie, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. “I’m taking her for a nap. Have a good trip.”

“Damn.” Katie grumbled.

“Wait! Before that!” Daniel shouted. “Can we take Bae Bae? Like, walk her around, show her the sites, get her a toy?”

“Bae Bae, behave. Be good for the others.” Katie stated. “She can go. Ask Matt or Chip for help, I should have an outfit and leash for her in the green lion.” She then flashed a peace sign as Regris carried her off. “Have fun. Bring back good things. Night!”

“It’s the middle of the day.” Commander Lance reminded.

“Time is irrelevant!” Katie called back as Regris left the room.

“So… uh…” Daniel looked to the paladins. “Is that normal? Just hauling her off like that?”

“Yeah.” Keith nodded. “But only Regris can get away with it; Pidge fights anyone else who tries.”

“And bites.” Ulaz mumbled, rubbing his shoulder a bit to indicate that at some point, he tried and failed to carry her off and force her to go to bed.

“Anyway,” Commander Keith spoke up, “looks like we should get ready to head out.” He looked to the others. “We’ll take just our lions; I don’t want the presence of extra lions to alarm the people. Or confuse them.” He looked to Ulaz. “You have the castle handled?”

“Yes.” Ulaz nodded. “It’s relatively easy enough to understand. And I can also continue going over the results for Sven to help him.”

“Thanks.” Pidge smiled. “I’ll get back to helping you with it when I get home.”

“Take your time.” Ulaz offered a warm smile. “And enjoy your trip.”

“We’ll be sure to bring back deliciously unhealthy food.” Sergeant Hunk assured. “I’m thinking we can get pizza and have a party.”

“Mmm! Pizza!” Hunk hummed. “With stuffed crust?”

“Now we’re talkin’, little buddy!” Sergeant Hunk grinned as he put an arm around his counterpart’s shoulder.

“Pizza?” Ulaz blinked.

“Only one of the greatest Earth foods.” Lance mused. “You’ll like it!”

“Well then,” Shiro nodded, “let’s get ready. And work out travel arrangements.”

Chapter Text

“Is he okay?” Larmina asked, looking to see Lance hugging a tree, the paladin damn near crying.

“Sorry. It’s… uh…” Shiro thought it over. “It’s been a while since we’ve been on Earth. And the kids miss it.”

“C’mon, Lance,” Hunk patted his friend’s back, “let’s go see if we can find a place that sells nachos. Or garlic knots.”

“Can we get garlic knots?” Lance whimpered.

“Yeah, we can.” Hunk nodded.

“Well then.” Sergeant Hunk went over and pulled the two paladins into a hug on either side of him. “I know just where to go! So I’ll take these two! Chippers, you comin’?”

“Nah, I’m gonna help Matt and mini me find a retro shop.” ninja Chip stated. “See if we can find anything good, especially to take back to Katie.”

“And Vince and I know the area a bit better, so we’re gonna show Larmina around more since we didn’t get to do all that much during our last trip.” Daniel stated. “Don’t worry! We’ll take care of Bae Bae!”

“Remind me to keep an eye on him and double check that Bae Bae’s with us when we get to go back to our reality.” Chip said.

“Well, I think I should show the ladies around.” Commander Lance put his arms around both Alluras’ waists. “Pidge? Keith? Shiro?”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind showing Shiro around.” Pidge grasped the black paladin’s arm. “See ya!”

“Huh? Wha-whoa!” Shiro yelped, surprised by the Balton’s strength in pulling him along. Were all Pidges this eerily strong?

“What was that about?” Daniel asked, looking to Vince who just shrugged.

“Looks like someone else who can’t resist how hot Shiro is.” Lance mused, making the others look at him. “What? Tall. Well toned muscles that aren’t all gross and veiny? A good leader. Chiseled features and a well formed… jawline.”

“Hey I’ve got a good jawline.” Commander Lance pointed out, feeling along his own jaw.

“You look like you could audition for the Crimson Chin.” Chip quipped, making the Hunk duo snort way too loud.

“Can he legally say that?” Vince looked to Daniel in concern.

“Eh, I think we exist on the same network, so it should be fine.” Daniel waved it off.

Standing between her fellow cadets, Larmina just looked even more confused. She then shook her head, realizing it may have just been better to ignore them.

“You pay an awful lot of attention to your commanding officer, cadet.” Commander Lance pointed out.

“I’m bi and think Shiro’s hot.” Lance said, the paladin having no issues with pointing that out. “It’s hard not to notice these things.”

“And yet he’s always on stand-bi and without a date.” Chip smirked.

“C’mon, man! You gotta kick me while I’m down? And insult to injury, you throw in the pun!?” Lance looked like he had just been betrayed. “And Hunk already made that pun before!”

“Yes, but it’s such a good one.” Chip grinned.

Commander Keith sighed. Yes, they were there to have fun. They were there to unwind. They were there to let their other reality friends see Earth again. Or for the first time. But he was damn near ready to go home and train; training was fun for him. “Anyway, I’ll go with the princesses and Lance. But the rest of you,” he focused a stern look on the cadets, “I want you guys to behave. We’ll meet back with the lions in a couple of hours. I’ll message Pidge about that plan.”

“Alright! Freedom!” Daniel cheered. “Okay, first stop, a pet store. So we can get some supplies for Bae Bae!”

“Hey, maybe they’ll have dogs and cats to see and pet.” Vince smiled. He looked to Larmina. “I think you’ll like that. It’s pretty fun to socialize with them.”

-+-+-+-

Shiro smiled as he looked around. Earth. It wasn’t his Earth, but it was Earth nonetheless. It felt enough like home.

“It feels like it’s been a lifetime since I was last on Earth.” Shiro stated.

“A month or so, right? That’s when you guys left and ended up being paladins?” Pidge asked.

“Well… yes. But…” Shiro stopped and looked at a shop, smiling to see it was a bakery. “See, over a year ago, I left Earth for the Kerberos mission. It was finally approved and preparations were being made. Commander Holt, the twins and Matt’s father, had even recommended me as the pilot with my records.” He sighed. “But, unbeknownst to us, the Galra were lingering close to there. And they weren’t the Blade of Marmora.” He went over and found a bench to sit on; Pidge joined him, resting a gentle hand on his arm. “And they took the four of us captive. And… it was probably a year. Maybe longer… I was finally helped in escaping by Ulaz and then Keith brought me back to Earth… And after that night? We left the next morning.”

“So it’s really been a long time since you have been on Earth.” Pidge looked hurt on Shiro’s behalf. “I’m sorry…”

“Well. It’s life. And now I have a job to do.”

“Well, hopefully you can take this time to enjoy Earth for a bit.”

“Yeah.” Shiro nodded. “On the plus side, I get to go out and explore. When Keith and I crashed on Earth? I got tranquilized and then kidnapped from the base by the cadets and was out in the desert overnight with Chief, Keith’s dad, making sure I was physically fine. Can’t say it was boring.” Pidge chuckled a bit. “But. I kinda wish I had a bit longer. You know, to find my fiance… um… ex-fiance.”

“Ex?” Pidge blinked.

“Yeah. I was engaged to this amazing guy. A fellow pilot; he cut back on piloting and worked more as a teacher.” Shiro looked to his mechanical arm. “I… before leaving for Kerberos, I was sick. It was wearing away my muscles, screwing up the ligaments and tendons. It was isolated to my arm but… in a few years? It’d have spread. Medicine wasn’t enough to stop it.” Hearing Shiro, Pidge looked worried. “I mean, it’s fine now. All gone; maybe that’s the one perk to being captured and important to the empire for entertainment in fighting. But… my fiance… he pleaded for me to reconsider. But I didn’t. We… we had a falling out.”

“And he couldn’t stick around, see me go like this. So… he left. And then I left on the mission.” Shiro continued. “I wish when I crashed on Earth… I wish I was able to go and find him. To apologize and tell him he was right. I mean, some good came of it, but…”

“Then when you can go home, do that.” Pidge said. “Apologize.”

“And if he doesn’t forgive me?”

“Forgiveness is one thing. But I’m sure he’ll accept it. And appreciate you being this wonderful man, getting over things to apologize.” Pidge assured. “Yeah, you had your calling. And good came from it in the end. Bad, too, but… good things happened. But you did disregard his concerns… But I think an apology will make things better.”

Shiro smiled. “Thanks, Pidge.” he said. “Yeah. I don’t know when I’ll be getting back to Earth, but… I should do just that.”

“Glad I can help.” Pidge smiled. It was a shame Shiro seemed to still love his ex, but hey, he could appreciate that. It wasn’t like he could expect Shiro to remain in their reality anyway. No matter how hot and nice he was. “Anyway, hey, how about we get something, hmm? There’s a café near here with amazing smoothies that don’t wreck my Balton health.”

“Sounds good to me.” Shiro got up and offered his hand. Pidge grinned and got up with his help, not that it was needed. Though not needed, it was truly appreciated.

Pidge then led the way, showing Shiro to the smoothie shop. They stopped though when someone called out to Pidge.

“Sergeant Stoker?” a figure asked. “It is you!”

“Hmm?” Pidge looked to see a man with glasses. “Lieutenant Wagner!” He went over and playfully punched him in the arm. “And I told you, call me Pidge.”

“Then you call me Adam.” The lieutenant ruffled the pilot’s hair. He then looked when he saw Shiro. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were out with someone. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Just showing a friend from off planet around a bit while getting supplies for my… cousins.” Pidge responded, quickly coming up with a cover for if anyone saw the uncanny resemblance between him and Matt when they’d regroup. “Adam, this is Shiro. Shiro, this is an old friend and co-worker, Adam Wagner. He actually spent a lot of time with Hunk and me while we were laying low when Wade was in control of things.” He shoved the lieutenant a bit. “And he’s been help to the Den, too; they’re our little resistance group, especially when Voltron was banned.”

“Not all of us approved of someone like Wade, so it paid off to lay low and work together.” Adam stated. He then offered his hand. “It’s nice meeting you.”

“Y-yeah.” Shiro brought up his hand, the prosthetic whirring a bit. It caught Adam’s attention. “Oh, um… I…”

“Things must have been rough.” Adam gently took the prosthetic. “Kind of a guess because of the scar on your nose and arm…” He offered a smile. “But it looks like you’ve got yourself what you need to help out. Whoever designed it must’ve been amazing.”

Shiro smiled, pleased to know that his arm didn’t bother Adam. “Yeah.” He nodded. “He is amazing. Pidge’s little cousin would disagree since he acts like a nanny to her at times, but.” He shrugged. “He is a skilled and genius doctor who’s got our backs.”

“Good to hear.” Adam nodded. “Anyway, I should get going. And let you two continue your date.” He winked at Pidge, making him blush profusely, his cheeks and ears both going bright orange. “Maybe I’ll catch you another time.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” Shiro didn’t think it was likely for that reality, but it did sound nice. “See ya.”

“See ya. And Pidge, give Hunk my regards.” Adam waved them both off. “Have fun! Nice seeing ya. And nice meeting you, Shiro!”

“I am so sorry.” Pidge tried to hide his face. As much as he loved the idea of them being on a date, but having it pointed it out made him feel flustered.

“No, don’t be.” Shiro shook his head. “You know, I kinda already met him.”

“Oh?” Pidge’s ears twitched in confusion.

“Adam Wagner. Name and appearance both. Even his rank.” Shiro smiled. “That was my fiance in my reality.”

Pidge blinked. He looked past Shiro to see where Adam was waiting before crossing the street. He then look back to the black paladin. “If he’s anything like the Adam I know? Then apologize. He’ll definitely accept and even forgive you.”

Shiro smiled. “Thanks. I’ll be sure to do that.” he said. “Now then, let’s get those smoothies, hmm?”

Chapter Text

“Screw you.” Keith snapped. “Dammit! How!? HOW!?”

Katie just grinned. “All is fair in love and Monopoly.”

“Oh, so this is why Hunk and Lance hate this game.” Regris mused. “And why Matt says he refuses to play.”

“Yeah, now I get it.” Keith ruffled his own hair, scratching his head in bafflement. “I even cheated!”

“Keith!” Ulaz turned to glare at the younger Blade.

“Um… I mean…” Keith gulped.

“Don’t worry, Ulaz, I knew all along.” Katie waved it off. “I thought it’d be nice of me to let him have that handicap. Not that it helped him.” She grinned at the silence. “You’re flipping me off, aren’t you, Keith?”

“Yes, yes I am.”

Ulaz sighed and shook his head. At least the kids were having fun after Katie had her much needed nap. And so far? Nothing bad was happening. It was peaceful on calm and happy planet Arus.

Though his thoughts on that were premature.

Alarms went off.

“Hmm? What’s up?” Katie asked. Regris got up and pulled her to her feet while Keith scrambled over to the senior Blade. “Is it an attack?”

“We should get to the lions then.” Keith stated.

“Maybe but…” Ulaz checked the surveillance. “There are no ships. But there is a strange energy signature that came in briefly. It disappeared, though. I couldn’t get a pinpoint on where it ended up.”

“Right.” Keith nodded. “Ulaz, can you stay here and keep an eye on things?” Ulaz nodded. “Pidge, Regris, and I are gonna head out and check around, see if we can spot anything.”

“Be careful out there.” Ulaz told them. “If we have further problems, I’ll contact the team.”

“Copy that!” Keith ran off, heading out for the lions; Regris stuck with Katie, helping her find her lion.

Katie headed off, looking for any signs of the strange energy signature that Ulaz noticed. The Blade pointed them in the general direction, so they had a starting point. Once in an area, though, Katie decided she would do best to search on the ground. She even suggested her and Regris split up; they could cover more ground that way.

“You sure, Pidge?” Keith asked.

“Yeah.” Katie nodded as she landed Green. “You know how I am in ground searches. And Regris and I can cover more ground; if enemies show up, we can get back to Green while you cover us.”

“Copy that.” Keith confirmed. “But keep us updated because I know for a fact that you didn’t put on your armour and you’re not fully protected.”

“I’ll be fine!”

“Says the pipsqueak that’s a liability to herself.”

“Hey! That’s accurate, but still!”

“Guys. Mission? Work?” Regris spoke up.

“Yeah, yeah.” Katie grumbled.

“I hear ya.” Keith sighed. “Well, I’ll keep an eye in the lion.”

“Copy that.” Katie departed her lion and activated her bayard, getting it into staff form. “Okay, Rover, let’s go.”

“You sure we should split up?” Regris asked.

“Ulaz hasn’t reported any enemy ships and we’re kinda looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“What’s a haystack and how do we know we’re looking for needles?”

“It’s an expression.” Katie waved it off. “Point being, we don’t know what we’re looking for or where it is. Splitting up may improve our odds of figuring things out.”

“True.” Regris nodded. “Okay. But be careful. And Rover,” the drone beeped in response, “if anything seems wrong, contact us.” The drone gave off a jovial tune. “Okay then. Let’s do this.”

The two split off. Katie went around the area, feeling along the ground with relative ease. While she was used to growing up in the desert and walking with ease, she was thankful for her staff in keeping her supported. As she traveled, she listened as well as she could, hoping to hear anything. Twigs. Leaves. Grass. Voices.

Even Rover was silent, the drone scanning the area for anything visually. But even he didn’t spot anything.

“Hmm, just what are we lo-” Katie stopped when she heard a whimper. It reminded her of Bae Bae whimpering, though the voice was different. A dog? Or some Arusian equivalent? “There.” Katie pinpointed the sound and went in search of the whimpering, getting through some trees to feel a sort of strange energy and warmth. “Rover? What’s here?” Rover beeped, checking the area and relaying. “Crater? Did Ulaz pick up a sort of meteor?” Before Rover could respond, she heard the whimper again.

Katie scooted closer. “Hello? Are you okay?” The whimpering became snarling. Rover beeped in alarm, warning the paladin of what was there. “A… blue wolf?” Katie thought it over. So, definitely an alien creature. Did it somehow crash? “Hey, it’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Rover went over where the wolf was snarling, beeping loudly to let the paladin know where to go. “Right, easy does it then.” Katie found the edge of the crater and carefully slid down it.

“Okay, I’m not going hurt you. I can help you.” she coaxed. She deactivated her bayard to hopefully show the wolf that much. “See? Not armed.” She finally reached the wolf, the creature still snarling. “It’s okay, I’m just gonna check you. But, I kinda have to feel, I can’t see.” She moved her hands closer, but the wolf wasn’t having any of that. He snapped and bit her on her right arm, making her wince.

Rover let out an alarmed beep. “No, no, it’s okay, Rover, don’t call the boys yet.” Katie quickly said. “He’s just scared. He’s shaking…” She moved her free hand carefully, touching the wolf’s face. “See? It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” She felt that soft fur; she thought if she wasn’t careful, she would just sink into it. “It’s okay, buddy.”

The wolf snarled for a moment longer before opening his mouth, releasing the paladin. He whimpered and licked her arm, seeming to try and apologize.

“I’m okay. I understand, you were scared.” Katie assured. She heard Rover beep. “And according to Rover, you’re hurt.” She felt before feeling something around the wolf’s left front leg. The best she could compare it to was a bear trap. The slick feeling around it told her that the wolf was bleeding. “This feels bad. But… I think I can remove this.”

First, Katie went through her pouch, removing a few pads and medical wrap. Hey, the pad helped with the bleeding on Lance when he got hurt back when Sendak took the castle momentarily, it could help a hurt space wolf. She then felt around the trap on his leg.

“Okay,” the paladin spoke up, “this may hurt a bit, but I’ll make it better.” She managed to get her fingers into those metallic jaws and started prying, hissing when they threatened to cut into her gloves. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon.” She heard and felt them move. “That’s it. We’re getting there.” She got them opened more. And just enough. The wolf pulled his leg free; once free, Katie pulled her hands back and let the trap snap shut. “Yes! We did it!”

“Pidge! Do you copy?” came Keith’s voice through Rover.

“Yeah, I do.” Katie stated. She started grabbing her supplies, feeling for the wolf’s leg and getting them in place, wanting to treat his leg. “Find anything?”

“Not yet.” Keith informed. “Ulaz is still looking for that energy signature he caught, but…”

“Well, I think I found it.” Katie responded. “I think that energy is this alien wolf that crashed here. Dunno how he crashed, but he did. And he was hurt.”

“I mean, crashing would hurt anyone.”

“No, not like that.” Katie finished getting the pads around the wound and started wrapping the gauze around them. “Someone had a trap down somewhere and it caught this guy. I got it off.” She hissed a bit, her arm and fingers stinging.

“Pidge?”

“I think I cut myself on it.” She kept from telling Keith that the wolf bit her, not that she was upset about that. Once she finished with the wolf, she removed her gloves, licking her hands and finding the taste of blood. “Yup. Bleeding. But it’s fine, I’ve got a first aid kit in my pouch.” And true to her claim, she pulled out the kit and found her band-aids. She then started putting them on. “But they aren’t deep.”

Once Katie finished, she listened. Nothing. No responses through the comms. “Keith? Do you copy? I’m fine. I just got my fingers bandaged.” She put her gloves back on. “Keith?” She then heard a familiar boom of a ship coming in. “Huh? What’s that?”

Rover beeped a response, looking around. He then looked up to see ships coming in. He gave a beep, relaying information.

“What? Drule?” Rover beeped more, spotting the red lion flying at one of the ships to fight. “And Keith’s engaging. Got it. Regris, do you copy? Rover and I are gonna return to Green!” She got up. “Hey, c’mon, wolfy. Can you get up? You’ll be safe with us.” The wolf grumbled before getting to his paws, finding it to be easier now that he didn’t have that trap around his ankle. “Okay, now to climb out of this cra-” Katie blinked when she felt a surge of energy. Next thing she knew, she was kneeling on grass. “Rover? What happened?” Her drone beeped. “Teleport? Did… did wolfy here…”

The wolf nosed Katie and licked her cheek. She smiled. The wolf could teleport? That was amazing! And perhaps gave her the answer as to how he crashed into Arus.

“Good boy.” Katie reached and pet him. “Good wolfy.” She then got up. “C’mon, let’s g-” She stopped when the wolf snarled. “Huh? What is it?” Rover beeped at her and she grabbed her bayard, activating it. “Drule soldiers. Well then. That’s not surprising in the end.” She readied herself for battle. “Regris, do you copy? We’ve got contact with Drule soldiers. We need back up!” Nothing. “Regris?” Rover beeped, his tone sounding worried. “Wait… energy disruption?! Oh man… Wolfy, can you teleport us out of here?”

The wolf tried to teleport, but there was a problem. He went nowhere. He whimpered. He couldn’t teleport; something was blocking his ability.

“Rover. Find a spot with no disturbance. Tell the others we’ve got an issue on the ground.” Rover beeped, his tone showing his concern. “Now!” The drone took off, heading out to find a spot to call for help. Meanwhile, Katie and the wolf had a group of Drule soldiers on the ground.

Katie was able to hold her ground in a fight. That much was known. But her fingers hurt, she had a hurt wolf, she was outnumbered, and she didn’t have backup. Hey, just because she was skilled didn’t mean she was invincible. Before long, the wolf was caught in a net buzzing with energy and Katie was disarmed, her wrists grabbed up and held up off the ground.

“Maahox, what do we do with the little pest with the wolf?” one of the soldiers inquired.

Katie barely heard the response, but she could still pick up enough over the soldier’s comms.

“That child may be of the other reality. I want to… check on them.” the voice over the comms, Maahox, responded. “Bring him along.”

“Copy that.” the soldier said.

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe it. I can’t freaking believe it!” Commander Lance was in shock. He looked over to see Matt just chilling, sitting on the floor of his lion and reading a book. Not just any book, the rebel himself was reading in braille, even closing his eyes as he felt along the bumps. “You actually found a book in braille. Not just one, but a few! And other tools for the blind!”

“I’m actually most amazed at you finding a label maker for the blind.” Daniel admitted, checking out the device. “So what? You’re gonna label doors and rooms?”
“No, Pidge can navigate the castle well. Better than even Allura.” Matt remarked.

“Hey! She does not navigate in my own home better than me!” Allura snapped, sitting in the blue lion with Princess Allura and Larmina. Her counterpart couldn’t help but chuckle a bit.

“Didn’t you get lost a few days ago?” Chip asked as he hung out in Sergeant Hunk’s lion with not only the sergeant himself, but the yellow paladin and his own ninja counterpart. He smirked when Allura was heard grumbling something in Altean. “I rest my case.”

“Anyway, it’s mainly for supplies in the kitchen and other places. Just to help a little.” Matt informed. “I think it’d help her back at the castle especially, that way she can find what ingredients she needs to cook.” Commander Lance and Daniel both turned to look at the rebel. The blind kid cooked? “What?”

“She cooks?! Is that safe?” Daniel asked. “Or do you mean like cup ramen or…?”

“No, like, actually cooking.” Matt stated. “She also bakes amazing peanut butter cookies. She learned the recipe from Mom.”

“Mm, that sounds so good right now.” Pidge hummed.

“She bakes cookies?” Daniel was perplexed. “But she’s blind. Completely.”

“So?” Matt blinked. “She’s blind, not a vegetable. Mom made sure she had these skills because they’re important to have.”

“And Chief works a lot and is tired, so Pidge helps out with that.” Chip informed.

“I’m still amazed.” Daniel admitted. “I mean… she can’t see. But she can manage so much? How?”

“Skill. Learning. The things that drive others.” Matt informed. “And maybe some spite.”

“Definitely some spite.” Chip added.

“Okay, definitely spite.” Matt chuckled. “Many people think she can’t do things because she’s blind. And she just goes watch me and learns. It’s a good mindset at times.”

Commander Keith sighed. He could think of times where it wasn’t a good mindset. But at least she was determined and seemed to live a life she could appreciate. He opened his mouth, ready to make a comment, but he was cut off by Ulaz getting in touch with them. “Ulaz, what’s the sta-”

“You lot need to hurry back!” Ulaz called. “We’ve got an attack; Drule ships and Keith just reported a robeast!”

“Shit!” Commander Keith was worried this would happen. He didn’t anticipate the robeast, but he did worry about an attack. He then pushed the controls, making his lion go faster; the others followed in suit.

“Have Pidge and Keith already mobilize?” Shiro asked, leaning over Commander Keith’s shoulder.

“Initially when an energy signature was detected.” Ulaz reported. “But Pidge hasn’t responded; Regris is out searching for her.”

“We’ll be there as quickly as we can.” Commander Keith assured.

“Damn… Drule ships and a robeast?” Pidge asked. “They’re really rolling out the red carpet of trouble, aren’t they?”

“Okay, so, have we got a plan or something?” Sergeant Hunk inquired.

“Waste no time.” Shiro stated. “The best plan of action is to form Voltron before you arrive. And after we get to Arus, drop us paladins at the castle; we can get to our lions to join the fight.”

“Right.” Keith nodded. He couldn’t argue with having more lions to help. If they were lucky, Regris would find Katie, get her back to Green, then boom, they could have two Voltrons. Oh how much easier life would be with TWO of their giant favourite universe defending robot. “Okay, team, let’s do this!” He got ready. “Ready to form Voltron! Activate interlocks! Dyna-therms connected. Infra-cells up. Megathrusters are go!”

“Let’s go, Voltron Force!” the team shouted.

“Form feet and legs!” The yellow and blue lions shifted and went into place. “Form arms and body!” Next were the red and green lions. “And I’ll form the head!” It didn’t take much after that. Voltron formed.

And their other reality friends? All they could do was sit in silent shock.

“Yeah, pretty cool, huh?” Daniel beamed.

“What the ruggle was that?!” Matt exclaimed.

“Huh?” Daniel blinked. Perplexed.

“Okay… now I get why Keith questioned why we needed some special saying with our team…” Lance mumbled. “That was… lame.”

“Do you guys seriously say that ALL the time with each time you form Voltron?” Hunk inquired.

“I mean… usually? There’s been times where it’s not really needed.” Daniel was a little alarmed by the sudden and somewhat negative feedback. “You guys don’t do that?”

“No. Can’t say that we do.” Shiro stated. “We just… you know. Say let’s form Voltron, fly in formation, then there we go. Voltron is formed.”

“That sounds so much easier.” Larmina admitted.

“And neat to see!” Vince stated, perking up.

“Well, another time. For now? We got a job to do!” Commander Keith said, looking ahead. There. Just in sight. Arus was there and waiting, ready for them to fly in and save the day. As per usual.

And the commander flew Voltron in and down near the castle, plowing through a Drule ship in the process. They landed near the castle, ready to drop the paladins off.

“We’ll get to you guys as soon as we can!” Shiro called, running out of the black lion.

“Hey, Shiro! What about our armour? It’s all back in the castle!” Hunk pointed out, scrambling for his lion.

“Pull a Pidge for now, we’re going civilian style!” Shiro said, getting to his lion. “Keith, do you copy? What’s your status? And Pidge’s?”

“I’m holding out just fi-whoa!” Keith got smacked to the side by the robeast, crashing into the ground and uprooting a handful of trees. “Er, I’m holding out as well as I can.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve got your back!” With the paladins out, the pilots went into action and knocked into the robeast, pushing it back and away from the Galran paladin.

“As for Pidge… I’ve not heard anything back.” Keith stated. “Regris, do you copy? Have you found Pidge yet?”

“I…” Regris sounded hesitant. “No… I think we’re going to be down a lion for this fight…”

“Reg?” Keith blinked. “Regris?”

“Keith, we need to focus on the fight.” Shiro reminded as the other lions mobilized.

“But Pidge…”

“Regris, just let me know. You haven’t found evidence of the worst?” The worst meant death. Shiro had hoped that wasn’t case.

“No signs of that.” Regris informed.

“Good. Then we need to focus on this. Then we’ll focus on finding Pidge.” Shiro stated. “We may be down a lion and can’t form a second Voltron, but we can still handle this.”

Vince was worried. Could they? That robeast was larger than any they were used to. And if Katie wasn’t there to fly the green lion to help…

“Huh?” Pidge turned when he heard movement. “Vince?” He watched his cadet.

“Sorry, but I gotta try something.” Vince told him before dropping from the lion.

“Wha- HEY!”

“Pidge, what’s the matter?” Commander Keith asked.

“Vince just dropped from the green lion. Jeez!” Pidge sighed. “What are you thinking, Vince? This is dangerous!”

“Yeah, well, I think I know what to do. Hopefully it works.” Vince checked the data, scanning for the location of the green lion that the paladins had. It didn’t take much and he finally located it. He then started running, though it would be quite a distance.

“Dammit, just what is he thinking?” Commander Lance grumbled.

“Well, whatever it is, he needs backup.” Daniel got up. “I’m going to help him.”

“Daniel-”

“Hey, I’m the fastest there is. I can try and rush him to where he needs to go.” Daniel assured. “Or to safety.”

The commander grumbled again, but he nodded. “Okay. But be careful.”

“Copy that.” Daniel nodded and dropped from the lion, activated the claws from his voltcom and taking off at top speed.

Once Daniel was out, Matt slid to the seat behind Commander Lance. “I’ve got a feeling the cadet is planning to go for Green and pilot her. But she’s picky about her pilot. I don’t think Vince is going to accomplish much.”

“You’d be surprised; the kid’s got weird magic tech powers.” Commander Lance informed. “I’m sure he can convince the cat.” Matt didn’t seem so sure when he heard the pilot, but hey, no harm in trying.

Daniel didn’t take much time to get to Vince and pick him up, quite literally. From there, they rushed to the green lion that what sitting out there on her own, still waiting for her paladin. She didn’t even have her barrier up, not that the two cadets expected it. They then went inside.

“So, you think you can hotwire it or something?” Daniel inquired, standing behind the seat that Vince took.

“Something like that.” Vince admitted, activating his voltcom and getting the wires to form. He then put them to the lion as he grabbed the controls. “C’mon, green lion, I think there’s a sort of bond between me and your counterpart in this reality, let’s hope that’s good enough for you to help out, huh?” He pushed the controls, causing the lion to lurch forward.

“C’mon, man, get it together!” Daniel snapped.

“Sorry, this is nothing like the lions we know. Everything feels so… different.” Despite different, Vince had to give it a try. Starting to get a feel for controlling the lion, he took off, rejoining with the other lions.

“Okay, team, let’s try to form Voltron! On me! Vince! Get in formation.” Shiro instructed.

“Right!” Vince nodded, figuring out what his position was supposed to be. He got to his spot and flew with the others, but nothing happened.

“Um… is that supposed to happen?” Daniel asked. “You know, nothing?”

“Oh man, it’s because we’re not an actual team, isn’t it?” Hunk asked. “Shiro!”

“Damn…” Shiro swore. “Okay, team, just because we can’t form Voltron doesn’t mean we can’t help out. Hunk, Lance, I need you two to handle those battleships. Keith, Pi… Vince, you’re on me! We need to try and help the others in taking down that robeast.”

“Copy that!” the paladins confirmed.

“R-right.” Vince nodded. He cursed himself a bit. Sure, he managed to fly Green, but he couldn’t do the one task he set out to do. He couldn’t form Voltron. Even with his power and ability to manipulate tech to some degree, he couldn’t trigger the formation. Did the team really need that much of a bond? Well, however it may be, he could be sure of one thing. He could do his part to help the team.

And he did find something he loved. The vine cannon. He was able to activate it, though he felt some resistance in the energy surrounding him. Was it really that hard to have the weapon form? Was that what Katie endured every time? Damn, being a paladin was hard work and took a toll.

However, he succeeded and was able to use that power to shoot at the robeast’s joints, causing it to lock up.

“Good work, Vince!” Commander Keith praised. “Now then. Form blazing sword!” Voltron did just that and sliced right through the inhibited robeast. The strike though almost wasn’t enough. With some follow up strikes from the black and red lions helped do the trick, though.

“Good job, team!” Shiro praised.

“Hey, those Drule ships are taking off!” Lance called. “What do we do? Follow them?”

“No.” Commander Keith responded. “We need to regroup and figure out what to do. And collect Regris and find out what happened and where Cadet Pidge is.”

Chapter Text

Vince landed Green near the castle with the lions. All of them, each left outside for the time being. Before he had the chance to get up, though, the lion activated and dropped both cadets out of her cockpit, flinging her head to literally throw them to the ground.

“Ow! What the hell?!” Daniel sat up. He looked confused when Green put up her particle barrier, locking anyone and everyone out. “Huh? What’s that about?”

“It must not be happy.” Allura informed. “Being piloted… maybe it felt threatened?”

“Huh?” Vince was sore; that sudden throw from the cockpit really came to him as a painful surprise. “But didn’t I just pilot it? Why is it threatened now?”

“I don’t know…” Allura admitted. “There’s much to the lions we don’t know. And without a bond to them like the paladins have, I can’t say for certain.”

“Well, why it’s reacting this way will have to be addressed later.” Keith stated. “We need to figure out what happened to our Pidge.”

Regris, who was picked up by Keith after the fight, nudged Rover. “I’ve worked on getting into Rover’s memory to see if he saw anything. And…” Using the interface on his armour, he brought up a holographic screen, replaying Katie meeting the wolf and helping him, even with said creature biting her. Rover had recorded the teleportation and the Drule soldiers showing up. And he recorded Katie telling him to go and contact the others. “I think we can assume that without her being found, she’s been taken captive.”

“Here we go again…” Lance sighed. He grunted in alarm when his counterpart smacked himself upside the head. “Hey! What was that for?!”

“Take this seriously, cadet.” the commander ordered.

“I am! I’m absolutely serious that this isn’t the first time it’s happened.” Lance pointed out. “Look, logically you would think the princess would be captured the most. But she’s only been captured once.” He motioned as though to display the information in front of him. “But Pidge? Our Pidgey? Yeah. You’d think she was some video game princess with her track record. I mean, she always finds a way to rescue herself. Or get a little help from other Blades undercover. But still. She figures it out.” He waved it off. “Though I’m not saying we should ignore this and let her handle things on her own. I definitely think we should go after and get her back. As soon as we figure out where she was taken. A base maybe?”

“Probably planet Doom.” Pidge stated. “That’s where Lotor’s stationed anyway. So logically, she would’ve been taken there.”

“We shouldn’t waste time then.” Commander Keith said. “We should head out now. Full force of lions.” He looked to the green lion with her barrier still active. “Or. As many as we can.”

-+-+-+-

“Interesting. Truly interesting.” Maahox grinned. “And from the understanding, you’re the reality counterpart to that little ninja who pilots the green lion. Pidge, was it? Can I call you that, too?”

“By far? Though you sound creepy, you’re a smidgen more polite.” Katie admitted as she was lying on her back, strapped down to a table of sorts. “Yeah, sure, go ahead and call me that. Or call me the paladin who is going to kick your ass the moment they get the chance.” She stopped for a moment. “Eh. Too long. Just call me Pidge.”

“A little wittier than the other one.” Maahox mused. “And blind? My, oh my, how interesting. Just how do you pilot?”

“Like anyone else. Take the controls and steer.”

“Sassy, I see.”

“That makes one of us.”

“Oh, will you knock it off!?” Lotor slammed his fist down beside Pidge’s head. He sneered when the teen didn’t even flinch. “Maahox, enough with the pleasantries! You have the wolf you wanted! Now you’ve got one of the other reality pilots! Just turn them into robeasts or something!” He grumbled a bit. “Not that I have much faith in you succeeding.”

“Low expectations? Someone’s sure got daddy issues and didn’t expect much from his old man.” Katie grunted in pain and frustration when she was smacked across the face.

“Do not speak of matters that which you do not know of, brat!” Lotor snarled. He leaned in a bit closer, but not too much; he had seen how many of his soldiers had been bitten, almost surprised that it wasn’t the wolf, but rather the kid herself. He let out a grunt of disgust when Katie spat a bloodied glob of saliva at him. “You insolent little-”

“Actually, sire, if you will permit it?” Maahox interrupted his king before he could smack Katie again. “Who knows what knowledge resides in this young pilot’s mind, especially of another reality. I would first like to extract data from him. Much like that had been done with the Baltons?”

Lotor seemed to contemplate it for a moment. “Very well. But hurry it up. Then turn him into a robeast with that damned wolf.” He then turned and skulked away, no longer wanting to personally deal with the situation or the sassy teen.

“Well. He’s pleasant.” Katie muttered.

“Indeed.” Maahox mumbled. “Anyway, how about we get you situated, hmm? I’m sure you have plenty of information in that little mind of yours.”

“I’d rather not.”

“I’d actually be surprised if you were interested in that.” Maahox went around to get things set up and ready. Though Katie said she would rather not go through what he had planned, she didn’t really make an effort to escape. Perhaps she knew it was futile? Or maybe she was plotting something? He felt he should keep an eye on her.

“So… that wolf.” Katie knew the situation was serious, but she also was curious. “Seems special. I mean, it sounds like you guys were after him for a reason.”

“Well, I suppose it would be courteous to tell you, since once I’m done collecting your brain’s data, you’ll become a part of a robeast alongside it.” Maahox hummed. “That beast is a cosmic wolf. A rare species from a very inhospitable region of space. With interesting powers, as we’ve recently learned, in teleporting. But it turns out that haggarium can help prevent it if there’s enough.”

Haggarium? That must have been the energy that also knocked the comms offline. Well, that was interesting to learn.

“Now then, try to behave, little pilot.” Maahox cooed. “And let your dear uncle Maahox into that precious mind of yours.” He started hooking Katie up to devices.

“You sounded creepy to boot, now you just upped the creep factor tenfold.” Katie pointed out. “And don’t think I’ll let you into my mind so easily.” She started wriggling, feeling for any weakness in the restraints. They weren’t fragile, but they weren’t flawless either.

“Ah, but I’m afraid you don’t have much of a choice in the matter.” Maahox stated. “For you’re the one who is restrained an-” He was cut off when he got kicked in the head. His restraints definitely weren’t perfect as Katie slipped her legs out of them and bent herself in half enough to kick him. She then got the right leverage to pull her shoulders and torso free.

“Yeah, Maahox was it?” Katie inquired. “Here’s the thing. I’m the green paladin of Voltron. And what does that mean? It means I’m gonna kick ass. Especially yours.”

Maahox wasn’t pleased. He tried to go at Katie, ready to tackle and restrain her. She got down from the table and dodged him before pinpointing where her bayard was, the object being confiscated when she was taken prisoner and placed on a table nearby. She activated it as her staff and readied herself for Maahox’s next strike. With great satisfaction, she swung and smacked him, giving him a good enough shock to knock him down.

“Oh, and, I tend to make my escapes painful for my captors. So, enjoy that.” Katie hummed. “Now then… where is Wolfy…?” She couldn’t leave the poor fellow to whatever fate Maahox had planned. So, she wandered the area a bit, listening for any signs of her could-be-new-friend.

After a moment of searching, she heard a whimper. “Wolfy?” Katie perked up. She went over, stopping when she heard energy buzz. “You’re not teleporting out of there, so that energy must be that haggarium stuff he mentioned.” Nodding, she started feeling for any sort of control panel. “Be patient, buddy, I’m gonna find a way to get you out of there.” she assured. She finally found it; with a good strike and zap from her staff, she shorted out the system, shutting down the haggarium-fueled barrier. “There we go!”

The wolf whimpered a bit more before stepping past where the barrier had been. Once sure it was safe, he teleported a few times, proving that he could do that.

“Huh.” Katie smiled. “You’re teleporting, right?” She reached out her hand, grinning when the wolf nuzzled it. “I can feel the change in the air around here when you do. Like… ripping fabric to slip through it. Except you close up the rip perfectly.” She pet the wolf, pleased and grateful to know he didn’t mind. “Hey, how about we work together, huh? We could use each other’s help to get out of here. And I can bring you back with me if you want. I can protect you so no one else tries to take and use you again. Or at least if they try, I’d be aware of it and kick their asses.”

The wolf let out a small bark before pressing his entire side against her. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Katie smiled. “You know, you need a name. A cosmic wolf. How about… Kosmo?”

The wolf seemed to contemplate it. He then went around and tucked his head under the paladin. Before she could ask if something was wrong, he flipped her over his head and onto his back, making her straddle him as if he were some horse.

“I guess you’re okay okay with that one.” Katie chuckled, petting her newfound companion. “Okay, Kosmo, let’s get going. Let’s see if we can find a ship I can commandeer. Or give them hell until the team shows up.” She then gently tapped Kosmo. “Okay buddy, yip yip.”

Kosmo snorted as he looked back. “Sorry, a reference to a show I listened to with my brothers.” Katie chuckled. The wolf huffed a bit before taking off, the paladin holding onto his fur as he sped up.

Chapter Text

“Great. And she couldn’t have worn her armour so we can hopefully track her?” Commander Lance asked. “Why? WHY!? See, your lions are cool looking, but your armour is lacking. You have to change into your armour? And carry your voltcoms?”

“They’re bayards.” Regris corrected. “And they… I don’t know. They disappear into the armour to be summoned?” His tail twitched a bit. “Hmm.”

“Okay, point being, there’s a flaw to your guys’ systems.” Commander Lance pointed out. “And your Pidge is in her civilian clothes according to what you said before. So she’s not protected. She’s not able to be tracked. She may not be armed.”

“All the more reason why we need to hurry up and find her.” Pidge informed.

While Pidge and Commander Lance took to the ground, they left their lions in the hopefully capable hands of Vince and Daniel. They accompanied Regris, Matt, and Sergeant Chip on the group; Chip and Allura were both ready to help, but Shiro deemed that as a poor idea. Chip was emotional and worried about his twin and Shiro didn’t want to worry about anything happening to their princess. As fussy as the two were about being kept back, Commander Keith agreed with the black paladin.

“Okay, so, she’s the best with hide and seek and finding people, right?” Sergeant Chip inquired, looking to Matt. “Who was the best at finding her?”

“No one.” Matt didn’t even hesitate. “She was always difficult to find no matter who looked. Even Keith. And his senses were better than ours with his Galran genetics.”

“Oh great.” Commander Lance sighed.

“Well, look on the bright side, you might not need to do much looking or rescuing.” Lance responded from the blue lion. Like the others, all the lions were kept back and hidden, avoiding detection. If possible, especially after a fight so recently, they wanted to avoid further contact. So, the ground team went in, seemingly under the radar. “This is our Pidge we’re talking about. She’ll get herself out of trouble. At least a bit.”

“Hopefully that’s the case.” Pidge nodded. He moved along the area, finding shadows to hide in and navigate through. When he stopped again and looked around, he found himself noticing something. “Okay, is it just me or is this odd?”

“Odd how?” Sergeant Chip inquired.

“Well… all of this. We’ve barely seen a Drule soldier patrolling.” Pidge informed. “Which is odd. Team, keep an eye out. They may already know we’re here.”

“Yeah, we’re making sure to scan for that, buddy.” Sergeant Hunk informed. “But so far? Nothing out of the ordinary is coming up.”

“Okay… did we kick their asses that badly back on Arus?” Daniel asked.

“Don’t count your blessings, Danny boy.” Commander Lance grumbled. “That’d be too good to be true.” He moved around the next spot, getting around Pidge. “No alarms. No soldiers scrambled. What the hell is go-” He was pulled back by Regris at a shout that drew nearer before someone crashed down in front of them. “Ooh! That has gotta hurt.”

“I’m okay?” The Drule soldier sat up on his knees, checking himself over. “I’m okay!” Then some construction materials came crashing down on him.

“Ooh!” Pidge winced.

“Uh… still good under there?” Matt actually asked.

“I’m still okay.”

“He’s fine.” Matt chuckled.

“What the hell was tha-” Commander Lance looked up. There he could spot Katie looking down upon them. Or at least appearing to look down. “Pidge!”

“Pidgey! You’re okay!” Matt cheered.

“Yup! Only a little sore from previous stuff, but all’s good.” Katie assured.

“Well, stay put, kid.” Commander Lance ordered. “We’ll be up there in a minute to ge-AAAAH!” He let out a scream as Katie appeared suddenly beside him, hand on Kosmo’s back. “HOLY SHIT HOW THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT!?!”

“Lance! That’s a kid! Don’t swear!” Pidge chastised. “And we kinda know how, we saw the footage from Rover, it’s probably the wolf.”

“It’s definitely the wolf.” Katie hummed. “Kosmo’s apparently a cosmic wolf. And super soft, really friendly towards me, and tremendously skilled with that teleporting power.” She pet the wolf again. “So. Who do I ride with back to Arus?”

“I would put you in Yellow with Hunk and Chip but…” Matt thought it over. He knew Chip especially would fuss over her along the way.

“We’ll ride with the other Pidge and Vince in the green lion.” Regris informed her, smiling behind his mask when she gave him a thumbs up and grinned brightly. Yup. She was just fine.

-+-+-+-

“That is a literal wolf.” Commander Lance said. “That is a literal giant blue teleporting motherf-”

“Lance.” Commander Keith and Shiro both got after him.

“Anyway. WOLF!”

“Yeah, we already had the idea because Rover’s memories showed us and Pidge mentioned it before we lost comms.” Keith informed.

“She brought back this wolf.”

“Well it’s not like I could just leave him there on planet Doom.” Katie informed as Ulaz finally checked her injuries. He would have checked her sooner, but she insisted that Kosmo’s leg should have been checked first. After cleaning and redressing the wound, determining that it would be fine, even praising the paladin for her quick and efficient work to protect it, he got to check on Katie. He was most worried about the bite marks, but, to his surprise, they weren’t too bad. Without a pod they would scar, but she hated those anyway; they were too cold for her liking. “And he’s really nice. I think we hit it off.” Kosmo went over and nosed her. “So. I’m gonna adopt him.”

“WHAT!?” Everyone except for Regris and Bae Bae looked surprised. Even her own siblings were shocked and as straight-faced as Ulaz often was, he couldn’t help but be stunned.

“Okay, Pidge, the other Lance made it a point and I’m gonna repeat it.” Matt stated. “That. Is. A. Wolf. You can’t just keep some wild animal.”

“Why not?” Katie inquired. She motioned to the side. “We kept Keith and Lance.” Regris looked to her, to the two mentioned paladins, and back to the green paladin herself. He moved her hand to motion towards where the two were lingering. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Regris nodded.

“In defense to that,” Chip spoke up as Matt struggled to find out what to say, “Chief did bring them back to the house with him when he rescued us.”

“Okay, I feel really insulted.” Lance said. He looked to his Galran friend. “Is this normal?”

“Remember, I spent like eight years away from them.” Keith reminded, pointing out that he missed some things with the Gunderson-Holt siblings. “But from what I do remember? Yes. Actually…” He thought it over. “I remember Pidge trying to adopt some other animal that was nervous. I think it had anxiety.”

“Yeah?” The blue paladin looked interested.

“Mom told her she couldn’t keep it; Dad even told her that it had anxiety.” Keith thought over the memory. “Pidge said something like but why not? You let mommy keep daddy.” Hearing him, Lance, Hunk, and even Sergeant Hunk started snickering. Yup. Katie was sassy even then and sassy now. And a little logical in her own strange way.

“Look, Kosmo seems happy with us. It’d be wrong to give him an opportunity to have a good family and forever home and not follow through.” Katie said.

“Okay, but. Uh…” Matt tried to think of more. “Oh! Bae Bae! We already have a dog!” He motioned to where Bae Bae was, Daniel holding the leash to keep her back. Just in case. “What if Bae Bae and Kosmo don’t get along? It’d be cruel of us to bring in another pet if the two can’t be safe together.”

“She’s not been pulling, though.” Daniel admitted. “Or barking. And her tail is wagging.” He shrugged. “I’ve just been holding her leash just in case. You know, to make sure things are okay?” He walked over with Bae Bae, ready to pull the leash back if for any reason the two canines did get hostile with one another.

However, much to the relief of those there, Kosmo and Bae Bae just sniffed each other; Bae Bae even licked the wolf’s muzzle. Seeing that, Daniel grinned. “Pidge, if for any reason these two decide to have puppies and they reach age where they can leave their mother for adoption, please find a way to return to this reality so I can adopt a puppy. Or two. Two would be nice, let them have a buddy and sibling to grow up with.”

Katie chuckled. “We’ll see what happens.”

“Okay. You know what?” Matt put his hands up in defeat. “I give up. I wash my hands of this.”

Shiro sighed. Well, time for the next idea to try and get Katie to back down from the idea of keeping a wolf. And an idea did hit him. “Well? How about this?” he spoke up, crossing his arms. “You can keep him if you can carry him.” That should do the trick. He felt very proud of that to get around the kid and he was sure that her parents would agree with his tactic. Sure he finally won a battle against the youngest paladin, Shiro turned away, smiling at what he deemed was an accomplishment.

But there was something that Shiro briefly forgot, especially as Hunk, Lance, Keith, and Chip all gave him a look that questioned his intelligence on the matter. If it weren’t for Regris’ mask obscuring his face, his expression would say the same thing.

Katie seemed to ponder the situation, looking in Kosmo’s general direction as he grumbled a bit. She then grinned and picked him up with ease, holding him like a literal little puppy, even if his fur nearly engulfed her petite form. Seeing that, her team wasn’t too surprised. They expected that hidden strength. The team that was hosting them them? They were shocked. This kid couldn’t weigh more than eighty pounds soaking wet, right? But there she was, in all her petite sassiness, holding up a wolf that had to weigh over two hundred pounds, maybe close to three hundred! And she didn’t even shake or shudder; she didn’t look like she was struggling. She held him up as easily as a toddler could hold up a sheet of paper.

“Hey, Shiro! We can keep Kosmo!” Katie declared, oh so proud of herself.

Shiro had a quick double take, spinning on his heel to look back at one of his charges on the team. “WHAT THE QUIZNAK!?” he exclaimed.

“Dude… how is she this strong?” Commander Lance asked, looking horrified.

“Should see her when she gets fed up when Lance and Keith bicker too much.” Ulaz stated. “She’s picked up Regris and just thrown him at them before.” The red lion pilot looked over slowly, slight concern and disbelief on his face. “She is definitely special.”

“She’s not normal! Especially by Earthling standards!” Commander Lance cried out.

Matt, on the other hand, went and patted Shiro on the back. “Well. No taking it back now. You told her how she could keep Kosmo. Looks like we’ve got another pet.”

“Dammit…” Shiro muttered.

Keith went over and pet Kosmo as the wolf happily wagged his tail, content in Katie’s arms. “You know, I think there’s a perk to this.” he pointed out. “Bae Bae’s a good companion, but maybe Kosmo can learn to be a seeing eye dog more for combat.” He looked to the wolf. “What do you think, buddy? Think you can learn to look after Pidge for us?” He smiled when the wolf licked his cheek. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Shiro sighed, but a smile crept to his lips. Well, he couldn’t deny that much. Kosmo could help out with Katie in combat. Perhaps that could put a bit more ease in worrying over her. And another thing he couldn’t deny, Kosmo would feel right at home with their dysfunctional group.

Chapter Text

“Okay. You know what? That’s it!” Katie put her hands down on the matter. “Vince!”

“What’d I do?!” Vince looked worried. Sure, just the other day he took control of the paladin’s green lion, but she didn’t seem mad about it then. If anything, she understood it was a necessary task, he was doing his best to help the others.

“Wow, this is a change of pace.” Larmina smirked. “Normally someone’s yelling at Daniel for something.”

“Oh, hardy har-har.” Daniel glared a bit.

“Hey, Pidgey, what’s up?” Hunk asked, looking a little concerned. Sure, compared to others, Katie could be testier, but this definitely seemed surprising, especially towards someone as sweet as Vince was.

The next morning after Katie adopted Kosmo and Vince teched his way into piloting Green, the cadets and those around that age were sitting in the kitchen, chattering and enjoying a breakfast of simple cereal and milk, which the Earthlings of the other reality actually appreciated and missed. It was during then that Katie came in, actually frustrated.

But surely she had a good reason why she was pissed, right?

“You need to apologize!”

“But I already did!” Vince exclaimed! “Our entire trip back to Arus! You even told Pidge to duct tape my mouth shut. You even brought out a roll to use!”

“Not to me!” Katie sighed when Regris patted her back. “To Green.”

“What?” Vince wasn’t the only one who was caught by surprise; Larmina and Daniel just stared at her, a little dumbfounded.

“You violated Green.”

“Whoa whoa whoa! I did no such thing.” Vince protested. “Sure, I piloted her, but I-”

“Without her permission or giving her the chance to accept you.” Katie interrupted the cadet. “You just used that techy power and voltcom to get into her system and force her to let you pilot her.” She looked frustrated. “Physically she’s fine, but she’s hurt, Vince. You hurt her feelings on the matter. And she’s been putting up her barrier anytime someone that isn’t me comes near.”

“Dude, the lion’s just a machine, right? How can it feel bad?” Daniel asked.

“Dude, the lions are more than ships.” Lance pointed his spoon at the cadet. “They’re like, these mystical sentient creatures. They even jump in or come to our aid if we’re away and they know we’re in danger.”

“That’s right.” Chip nodded. “This one time, Pidge and I were checking out Sendak’s downed ship for info, hoping to find data on our family. And when a robeast coffin came in, Green showed up to shield and protect us.” He smiled at his sister. “To protect her paladin.” He looked to the others. “Even as someone who isn’t a paladin, I get just how much these guys feel.”

“And in a way, we kinda feel what they feel, too.” Hunk added. “Like, we pick up on when they’re upset or worried. It helps a lot. Helps make us a team, not just with each other, but with our lions, too.”

“We can wait until after breakfast,” Katie stated, sitting down, “but you do need to apologize to Green.”

“Yeah…” Vince nodded. He thought about the situation as he slowly ate. Were the lions really that sentient? And was it truly normal to talk to them as if they were an old friend? Then again, their own lions seemed to show some sentience, acting on their own as needed, especially when the black lion’s nexus was damaged and they needed to fix it. The lion took off on its own, the others following, and all headed for planet Ariel to get the repair done.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt bad. He really did feel like a jerk for taking control of a lion like that. It made him feel like Sky Marshal Wade, the biggest snartbag of their reality who had been thankfully arrested for his crimes. Breaking the black lion’s nexus, he managed to take control of all five lions as Voltron.

And Vince felt like that in the end, which made him realize how much wrong he had done. He had seriously messed up. Sure, he meant well, but he realized he screwed it up big time.

After their breakfast and further idle chit-chat, running past Shiro, Keith, and Commander Keith as the three left the training room, the others went to where the paladins’ lions were. Commander Keith tried to call after them, but Shiro assured him that it was probably fine.

Once with the lions, Vince looked up at Green. She stood there, towering over him with an imposing stature. Thinking of apologizing was one thing. Actually doing it? He felt nervous. Afraid? Dumb? He was enduring a cocktail of emotions swimming around in his mind.

“C’mon.” Katie poked Vince in the back with her staff, thankfully not giving him a zap. “She’s not that scary once you think of her as an overgrown house cat.”

“Easy for you to say! I mean, look at her! She’s huge! She could cru-” Vince stopped and thought over his choice of words. He smacked himself in the forehead. “Right. Blind. You can’t look at her.”

“Well, now that you’ve shown you could be a detective,” Katie teased, “get on with it. The sooner you do, the sooner things get better.”

“Yeah, but her barrier’s still up. And you’re here.” Vince pointed out.

“She can still hear you, even from out here.”

“C’mon, Vince, you can do this!” Daniel cheered his friend on. “I mean, you talk to those robot mice and that Gary.”

“Gary?” Lance inquired, looking perplexed.

“Yeah, a digital thing Vince downloaded through Pidge’s game.” Daniel went into explaining the situation that happened not too long ago and even how they stopped it.

Vince let out a sigh. Right. If he could talk to robotic mice and whatever the hell Gary was, surely he could talk to Green. He looked up at the lion again before stepping forward a bit. “Um… okay… this feels awkward.” He looked back. “Like, talking to the others, that’s when I’m alone. Or when I think I’m alone. Can you guys uh…”

“Say no more.” Hunk put his hands up a bit in a placid motion. He then started nudging Lance and Daniel along. “We’re gone. Some chats are meant to be private.”

“Fine!” Daniel exclaimed.

“You got this, Vince.” Katie assured.

“Uh… if you want… you can stay.” Vince sighed. “I may need someone who knows Green well.”

Katie smiled. “Yeah, I’m here for you.” She chuckled when she felt Kosmo teleport, the distortion putting him on the other side of Vince. “So is Kosmo.”

Vince smiled at the wolf. Intimidating, that was for sure, but he was like any other dog he’d meet. Gentle. A good boy. He pet the wolf, taking in the texture of that thick, blue fur. He then looked to see the others leave, Regris nudging Katie’s shoulder in a silent indication that he was leaving with them.

Once alone, only having a wolf, a paladin, and a drone nearby, Vince looked back to the lion. This was it. He had to make things right.

“Um… Green. Right? Of course, yeah… that’s the colour…” He rubbed between his eyes. “Still awkward.”

Katie chuckled. “Hey, Green.” she greeted her lion. “I got Vince here. Now, I know he did you wrong, but try to hear him out, okay?”

Vince looked to the blind teen. She just did that so easily. Was it really that easy?

It had to be.

With a determined nod, the cadet looked back to the lion. “I’m sorry. I did do you wrong and I didn’t think about it at the time.” he said. “I thought I could help, but I didn’t stop to think if you’d accept me. And it wasn’t due to ignorance; I learned already with the black lion that the lion chooses their paladin. And I forced you to let me pilot you. It was wrong. And while my action was more innocent in intention compared to others in the past, it was still a crime.” He dipped his head. “I really am sorry for what I’ve done. If there’s a circumstance where Pidge can’t pilot you and we need you out there, I’ll be sure to ask for permission first. I mean, hopefully we don’t get to that point but…” He looked up at the lion, smiling when her barrier came down. He didn’t need to feel her or hear her to know what that meant. “Thanks.”

Katie elbowed Vince. “That’s how it’s done.” she said. “You did good.” She then grinned in the direction of Green. “You know, apologies were made. Breakfast was eaten. Should we see if Lance and Hunk wanna join in for a bit of a joyride, giving you guys a trip around Arus in these lions? Because something tells me that the pilots aren’t gonna let y’all take the other lions out for a simple bit of harmless fun. But us? We can.”

Vince chuckled. “Think Green will let me ride in her?” As though to answer him, the lion lowered her head and opened her mouth. “Yeah? How about pilot you?” Her mouth shut. “Yeah, I figured that. Can’t blame a guy for asking, though.

-+-+-+-

“Where are the cadets?” Commander Lance asked as he walked into the main command center of the castle, handing a cup of coffee to Ulaz. “I’m worried they may have gone far; Bae Bae and Kosmo are gone, too.”

“They could just be exploring or going to check the nearest town.” Princess Allura stated. “There’s a lot to see.”

“Well… they’re going to check something out, that’s for sure.” Pidge brought up the security footage.

“You have gotta be kidding me…” Keith growled a bit. “Seriously? They’re just flying off?”

“Jeez… these kids…” Commander Lance grumbled.

“They just left!”

“Yeah, I hear that one, fuzzy.”

“Without me!”

“What?” Commander Lance looked to the red paladin.

“They didn’t even bother asking me if I wanted to join! Just because I was training….” Keith then took off running, heading for his lion to catch up with his fellow paladins.

“Is he…” Commander Lance looked to Shiro.

“We should call them back.” Commander Keith stated. “Having them go off on some joyride, especially without reporting it…”

“Let them be.” Shiro said, keeping much calmer than the two commanders. “Lance said it best. Kids. That’s what they are. And they need to feel like kids, even in these hard times.” He offered them a reassuring smile. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. And if there’s trouble, they’ll call it in.”

Princess Allura nodded. “I think he’s right. Even our own cadets are still children.” she said. “Let’s let them have a little fun for the time being.”

Well, no arguing with the princess. And at least the kids were out of the way for a bit, not nagging about piloting the lions or something.

Chapter Text

“Noooooooooo!”

It was loud. It was dramatic. It was understandable. Daniel was in anguish as it was decided that the Pidge family would be taking her with them on a sibling trip to Balto, wanting to treat it like a family reunion and have some fun while the counterparts and the extra brother were visiting.

“Jeez, she’ll be back tomorrow, Daniel, you’ll live.” Commander Lance sighed, shaking his head in slight disappointment.

“Are you guys sure about this?” Commander Keith asked. “After all, the cadet didn’t even want to go to Earth.”

“Yeah, but you’ve been to one Earth, you’ve been to them all at this point.” Katie stated. “But Balto sounds different. Especially for the tech.”

Pidge grinned at his counterpart. “We’re sure.” he said.

“And the lions, only taking one…” The commander and black lion pilot looked concerned. “If there’s trouble-”

“Yeah, but what if trouble hits here?” Katie interjected. “You may need to form Voltron, which sounds more doable with your green lion here. While Green and Vince made up, I feel like he lacks the bond to form Voltron with my lion. So, you may need that. Plus, my lion is plenty strong, heaven and hell forbid we do get attacked, she can hold out until there’s backup.”

“Remember, Keith, logic is key.” Pidge grinned. “And that’s some pretty sound logic right there.”

“Leave it to the green duo to be logical.” Commander Lance chuckled. “C’mon, Keith, just let them go out and have fun. A couple of Chips, a couple of Pidges, throw in a Matt, what could possibly go wrong?”

Save for the mentioned group, everyone there glared at him. Never EVER say that phrase, especially with a Pidge. They were the living definitions of things going wrong.

“A lot of things.” Commander Keith stated. “A. Lot. Of. Things.” He looked to Regris. “Please tell me you’re going with to keep an eye on them.”

“Actually, Keith’s suggested he and I get to hang out.” Regris motioned to the other Galran. “We’ve not hung out much and I think he’s a bit jealous of our Pidge and me working together a lot.”

“I’m not jealous!” Keith hissed, his fur bristling.

“Yeah, no one’s buying that, Mullet.” Lance chuckled. “Embrace the jealousy. Regris is your friend, too. These things happen.”

“Anyway, they’ve got our Chip. As chaotic as Matt and our Pidge are,” Shiro spoke up, “Chip is the voice of reason.”

“Yeah, I feel that one.” Sergeant Chip commented, grinning at his counterpart and making him chuckle.

“Dude,” Pidge looked to his twin, “didn’t you jump at a big dude and start a fight because he called you a pipsqueak or something and lead your team captain to getting a black eye?”

“Hey, the guy started it first by nearly running me over while Rocky and I were just walking.” Sergeant Chip justified himself. “And it was Jeff’s own fault he got the black eye, I didn’t ask him to fight for me. I appreciated it, but still.”

“Don’t worry.” Chip looked to the two commanders and Shiro. “I’ll do what I can to keep them in line. And we’ve got Kosmo to help out. He can at least keep my sister in line, I’ve got the rest.”

“That helps.” Shiro nodded. “You guys be safe and have fun. And Pidge.”

“Yes?” Both Pidges spoke up.

“Behave. Especially you, Katie Gunderson-Holt.”

“Wait, your name is Katie?” Sergeant Hunk asked, looking over. “It wasn’t Pidge?”

“You thought Pidge was her first name?” Pidge asked. “It’s not even my first name, it’s a nickname. Mine is Darrell.”

“Wait, seriously?!” The tech sergeant looked shocked. “So why haven’t we just been calling her by her name to make it easier?”

“Her name isn’t Pidge?” Hunk was just as confused.

“Oh… that makes sense now.” Sergeant Hunk blinked, realizing that it could cause issues with her own team. “Also. I kinda forget that some of us go by nicknames… my bad.”

“Anyway, we’ll be back tomorrow.” Pidge assured. “So, try not to get the castle destroyed before then.”

-+-+-+-

“Ugh…” Daniel groaned, laying down on the desk, his legs draped over the edge. “We have guests over, it’s like a vacation. And then what? We get sent to study. This just sucks.”

“Well, lessons don’t go away just because we have guests.” Vince informed, going over the study materials they were given.

“But it’s not fair!” Daniel sat up. “I mean, we have to read? Why not hands-on stuff? Like lion practice. Hell, I’ll take the simulator. Maybe even challenge the other cadets in those.”

“Yeah, that sounds better than this.” Larmina agreed.

“Or even maybe see how the other lions fly.” Daniel grinned at the thought.

“Okay, that’s going too far.” Vince stated. “Don’t you remember how Green responded to me?”

“Which is why we’re not tapping into them like you did.” Daniel jumped down from the desk. “C’mon! I wanna test out the red lion!”

“It’s a stupid idea, but it definitely beats this self-study time.” Larmina ran out of the room with Daniel.

“We are so getting into trouble for this…” Vince muttered. Though he pointed that out, he still followed after his fellow cadets, ready to see how the paladins’ red lion flew.

Daniel grinned when he got to the lion, finding her welcoming him with ease. He then sat down in the cockpit and took hold of the controls. “Okay, red lion, let’s see how you fly, huh?” He pulled on the controls, but nothing happened.

“I don’t think it likes the idea of you flying it.” Vince stated. “Which means we should be heading back out an-”

“Hey, be patient, man.” Daniel pulled more, jiggling the controls. “Maybe it just needs a bit more encouraging?”

“Like what? A reminding you’re not here to replace Keith but just want to go for a joy ride?” Larmina asked.

“Maybe?” Daniel shrugged. He then pushed the controls and the lion roared to life. “Hell yeah! Let’s do thi-whoa!” He tried to make the lion go one direction, but Red had a different plan. She went off and went running around.

“Okay, Daniel? I think it’s time to make this stop!” Vince exclaimed, holding onto the back of the seat.

“I’m not making it do anything.” Daniel stated, still hold onto the controls as if they were his lifeline. “It’s like it’s on autopilot!” The lion then took off in another direction.

“Where are you going?!” Larmina demanded.

“I just said it’s on autopilot!” Daniel snapped.

-+-+-+-

Back at the castle, Sergeant Hunk was hanging out with Hunk, Lance, Keith, and Regris, even showing them some of the tech and even video games they had out there. It was a good hangout. He even showed them to the simulators. After a bit, they were outside, getting some fresh air.

While out getting some air, they heard one of the lions act up and take off running. Seeing that, Sergeant Hunk was concerned. He watched as Red ran amok.

“Oh man, what’s going on?” the sergeant asked. “Like, is someone taking over the lion? Is it glitching?”

Keith watched, feeling his lion. “I think the cadets tried to take Red on a joyride.” He smirked. “Seems like she’s taking them instead.”

“Then it should be fine.” Lance shrugged.

“I guess this is what happens when they try to sneak out with the red lion.” Hunk sighed. “You think Red will be nice to them?”

“She won’t hurt them if that’s what you mean.” Keith assured. “They’ll probably just be in for a fright.”

Sergeant Hunk looked over. “Um… is this normal?”

“Not sure.” Hunk shrugged. “This hasn’t happened before.”

“It’s just what I feel.” Keith added.

“Blue doesn’t feel like she’s stressing, so that’s fine.” Lance hummed. “If the other lions were reacting, then it’d be a problem and they’re worried and implying we should be, too. But it’s all cool.”

“Red’s doing good not damaging things, too.” Regris pointed out. “I mean, structurally. The ground is probably torn up a bit.”

“Well. At least things seem to be okay.” Sergeant Hunk watched as Red was having a field day running around. “And you guys really feel your lions responding to this.”

“It’s uh… it’s kinda weird to explain.” Lance mumbled.

“Sorry.” Hunk chuckled nervously. “But yeah. Like, it’s this flow of emotions and ideas and feelings?”

“I get that.” Sergeant Hunk nodded. “Man. These lions. Hey, maybe after Red’s done messing with the cadets, one of you can show me around your lion?”

“I’ll be happy to!” Hunk grinned.

Red was at her antics for nearly ten minutes. By then, the remaining pilots, Shiro, and Allura were drifting by, checking around for something.

“Have any of you seen our cadets?” Commander Keith asked.

“And uh… why is Red in a frenzy but fuzzy Keith is out here?” Commander Lance inquired, looking a bit more concerned with the situation.

“Because Red is showing them that they aren’t right to pilot her.” Keith smirked.

“They’re trying to pilot your lion?!” Commander Lance went from worried to pissed off in a nanosecond. “Dammit! They just-”

“Maybe you don’t need to scold them.” Keith suggested. “Because I think Red is really teaching them a lesson here.”

“He’s right.” Princess Allura rested a hand on Commander Lance’s shoulder. “Besides, we can lecture them later. For now, though, this is our guests’ lion, they should be the ones to handle any punishments.”

“Keith, you’re sure about this?” Shiro asked. “Because taking the lion on a joyride is irresponsible.”

“I mean, you can lecture them about it. But until then?” Keith motioned to Red as she bounded around. “I think she’s got it handled.”

“Keith…” Shiro sighed. “Will you at least go and take control before she hurts them on accident? Or emotionally scar them?”

“I would, but I’m currently lacking a blue teleporting wolf to get me inside while Red’s having fun.” Keith smirked.

“You’re adopting Pidge’s sass.” Shiro scowled a bit.

“Really? I thought I got it from my godmother. She did help raise me after all. And she’s definitely where Pidge gets it from.”

“Your godmother?” Commander Lance looked over.

“Yeah, Pidge’s mom. I was born and raised on Earth for like eight years.” Keith explained. “Auntie Colleen helped raise me. From my memories? She’s super sassy and with an attitude to give anyone a run for their money.”

“Noted.” The commander nodded and turned back to watch the red lion.

The red lion finally stopped some yards from the group and opened her mouth. She then flung the three cadets out and onto the ground before sitting back.

“Land!” Vince cried, sprawling out. “Sweet, glorious land! I will never take you for granted again!”

“That was the worst idea ever…” Larmina groaned, sitting up. She covered her mouth. “I think I’m gonna lose something…”

“What the hell is wrong with that lion?! It’s so wil-” Daniel sat up and stopped. “Uh… hi guys?”

“You know, you kids really messed up.” Commander Lance sighed. “Vince taking Green for a ride was one thing. But this? This is just tomfoolery.” He looked to Keith and Shiro. “If I may suggest some punishments?”

“What did you have in mind?” Shiro asked.

“Studying and tests. And plenty of them until the green brigade returns.” Commander Lance eyed the cadets, hearing them audibly groan at that idea. “And a written report of where they went wrong with this.”

“Seems good to me.” Shiro nodded. He looked to Keith. “Well?”

“Sure thing.” Keith nodded.

“Hope you all learned this listen well.” Commander Keith told the trio. “Because you’ve got some more lessons waiting for you.”

“Nice going, genius.” Larmina glared at Daniel.

“Aw man…” Daniel grumbled.

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe we’re doing this…” Chip mumbled as he stood in a sort of parlor on Balto. Techno music playing, art and designs all over the walls, various precious metals and lab created gems glistening in the light. They were in a parlor for tattoos and piercings. But they weren’t there for the twins of that reality, and they weren’t there for himself or Matt. “You can’t even see them? Why do you want piercings?!” He looked to his own twin, the teen feeling some in a selection that the piercer brought out for her to check.

“Jeez, you’re freaking out like I want my tongue or naval pierced.” Katie chuckled. “Relax, it’s just my ears. And while I can’t see them, I can feel them. And I think it’d be nice.” She felt along some of the different earrings, judging what she liked the feel of. “I’ve wanted mine pierced for a while, but between the Kerberos mission, me being a desert cryptid and hacking into the Garrison, war, piloting while blind, and just overall kicking your guys’ asses when mind controlled by mushrooms, I haven’t had the time.”

Hearing the paladin, the piercer’s ears twitched and he looked over to Matt quizzically. Matt just shook his head, as though to tell him not to bother. It was too weird of a story to explain at times.

“C’mon, there’s no harm in a few earrings.” Pidge assured. “And this is the second best place!”

“Hey now.” The piercer shot Pidge a look.

“I only say second because the big guy is a piercing genius, dude was even able to do his own piercings.” Pidge reminded. “But he’s away on his honeymoon with his husband finally.”

“Okay, that’s fair.” The piercer nodded.

“But this place is great and your sister will be in good hands.”

“But two in each ear?!” Chip looked worried.

“Is he always like this?” Sergeant Chip asked Matt.

“Yeah, but we usually just let him run his course.” Matt waved it off.

“Why not? It’d be neat.” Katie finally picked out basic earrings that would stick out a little and be easy for her to feel. “And I already know how to care for them; Mom made me a care guide since she said she’d probably take me when she gets back. But, you know, things are going like this, so, I’ll get them now.”

“There is gonna be no arguing, is there?” Chip grumbled.

“With me? Nope.” Katie grinned brightly.

“Okay, let’s get you set up then.” the piercer stated, helping to guide his blind client to a chair. He got her ears cleaned and sanitized before getting his tools ready.

Chip wasn’t the only one worried, though. Kosmo didn’t like the idea of Katie getting hurt and he had the idea that getting needles shoved through her ears to put in jewelry had to be painful. With that, he kept stealing the tools whenever the piercer looked away. Had it not been so adorable and understandable, the piercer may have been a little more frustrated.

“C’mon, these aren’t for dogs. Give them back.” The piercer went to get his tools back; sure, he would get new ones that were sanitized for safety reasons, but he still didn’t want the wolf messing with his tools.

“See? Even Kosmo doesn’t like the idea of her getting her ears done!” Chip exclaimed. His ninja counterpart was laughing hysterically, amused.

“Kosmo, here boy.” Katie patted her knees, prompting the wolf to teleport over to her. She felt for his face and carefully pulled the tools from his mouth. “C’mon, buddy, it’s going to be okay. It may pinch a bit, but it’s not really gonna hurt. I get you’re worried for me, but I promise, it’ll be fine. And if I’m wrong, well, Chip can say I told you so for you, okay?” Kosmo whined and put his head on her knee, but he otherwise relented. “Sorry about that.” Katie chuckled a bit. “He’s taken up to looking after me it seems.”

“No worries.” the piercer mused, also amused by the situation. “Seems like a good guardian. Seeing eye dog?”

“Maybe?” Katie smiled. “Not sure. We just met not long ago, but he quickly had my back. But who knows, maybe he will take up that role more. Though Bae Bae may have to teach him to not worry too much about me.” She pet the wolf as he just rested near her.

“Okay, well, let’s get these done and over with before either pup starts to panic.” The piercer got new supplies and set things up. He then went on to piercing Katie’s ears.

Different from Baltons, with sensitive and numerous nerves in the ears, Earthlings had less nerves. Sure, some still felt a lot of pain, but Katie did not. It pinched, sure, but it didn’t bother her. Perhaps it was because she was used to getting hurt.

“And done.”

“That’s it?”

“Yup, two in each ear.”

“You sure?”

“You didn’t feel it?” Pidge asked.

“Hardly.” Katie admitted. “I’ve been jabbed worse the time Matt took me sledding behind the four wheeler and he flung me into a tree.”

“That was one time!” Matt exclaimed. “She… had a twig sticking out of her leg… I panicked and freaked out. Chip thought she would need her leg amputated.”

“You really are a magnet for disaster, aren’t you?” Sergeant Chip sighed.

“Yeah, you’d think some sadistic god was out there dictating that bad things keep happening to me as they write my life.” Katie shrugged. She then reached up, touching the earrings. They were a bit tender, to be expected, but she liked the feel of them there. “Thanks.” she told the piercer.

“No problem.” the piercer stated, accepting payment from Pidge. “And… uh…” He had a pamphlet on how to care for them, but even though he had copies that were written in English, he got the grasp that Katie couldn’t read it.

“I can read the instructions to her if needed or if I have concerns.” Chip assured as he accepted the care pamphlet. “But it seems like she already knows.”

“That I do.” Katie confirmed with a bright grin. “Whoo! Ears pierced! Mission accomplished!”

“First mission.” Pidge put his arm around Katie’s shoulder. “Now to check out more! The plaza! The mall! Shopping and eateries. It’s a sibling adventure on Balto, guys. We gotta make more memories aside from piercing one twin and worrying the other.”

“Then let’s get to it.” Matt chimed. “Thanks again. We’ll make sure she takes care of those piercings.”

With that, the Pidge family brigade were out and about, going through the city in Balto. Though Katie couldn’t see it all and sometimes just found a bench to chill out on with Bae Bae and Kosmo if it was too overwhelming, it was a fun and eventful place. Especially as they went to an indoor amusement park.

“Okay, okay, I can do this.” Pidge mumbled, holding onto Kosmo’s mane a bit.

“Is she okay?” Sergeant Chip asked.

“She accidentally got separated at a fair.” Chip explained. “Chief lost sight of her when he got separated, next thing we know, Dad’s panicking and we’re called to a security booth because she freaked out and climbed a tree and got her backpack stuck… it was an ordeal.”

“Well, it’s indoors, there are-” Sergeant Chip stopped and looked. Hydroponic trees. Hydroponics was absolutely normal for the plants on Balto. In fact, they were so normal, that was the only way any plant grew. Flowers, cacti, crops, trees, everything. “Let’s keep an eye on her. I do not want that happening…”

“Yeah. I mean, it was years ago, but still.” Chip shrugged. “But, I’m sure she’s grown since then. And now look at her? She’s got Bae Bae and Kosmo to hel-” He stopped and looked to see a bunch of Balton children crowding around Katie, asking her about her fuzzy canine companions and getting permission to pet them. He paid attention, seeing how Katie stayed calm. She was never one for crowds or social gatherings, but when it came to the kids, she was calm and social with them.

“I think she’s fine.” Sergeant Chip chuckled. He then looked to Matt. “Hey, Matt, wanna leave your sister to my brother and the rest of us go check out attractions and rides?”

“Sure. There’s a roller coaster I wanna check out.” Matt grinned. He joined his younger brother and the ninja version of said brother. “Think I can still ride with this robotic prosthetic?”

“You fly with Lance in a giant blue cat.” Chip pointed out. “I think you’ll be fine.”

While the others went off, Pidge flipped his twin off when the ninja gave him a grin and motioned that they were off. Despite that, he, too, smiled and stuck with Katie, letting her talk with the kids and let Kosmo and Bae Bae get all the affection they could desire. Especially the bull terrier; she loved the attention.

Once they could finally walk off, Pidge decided to find things that interested his counterpart. Rides she could find joy in or that she was curious about. He even got her some money to use at games when she was curious, especially at a strength game with the hammer and hitting the target.

“C’mon, kiddo, you got this!” someone cheered.

“Nothing to it but to do it!” another chimed.

“You seriously think they’ve got this? Look how tiny they are.”

“C’mon, like you’re not much bigger and still strong.”

“But they’re Earthling; they don’t have the strength and agility as Baltons at that size.”

“I mean, true but…”

“And let’s not forget blind. Pidge was totally talking to them about that.”

“Oh snart, you’re right.”

“I’m blind, not deaf!” Katie snapped, making the observing Baltons jump. “Okay. Two feet in front of me. Got it.” She then readied herself and swung the mallet. She knew its weight and leverage, she had this. She slammed it down, hitting the target dead on, and sending the weight up to the bell, making it ding loudly.

“Yeah! The kid’s got it!”

“Holy crow! Do you see that?”

“I do, but I don’t think they do.”

“Dude! You just dented the bell!”

“Heh heh oops?” Katie chuckled.

“You dented the bell… you actually dented it.” Pidge stated. “How did you dent the bell? Even body building Earthlings don’t do that. The only ones I know to dent the bells who have tried this are the Davdavhau.”

“What I lack in sight, I make up for in strength.” Katie grinned.

“Well, kiddo,” the one running the game said as someone went to replace the bell, “you get the big prize. Um…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you pick out one.” Pidge said. “And I think I know what you’d like. They have Moo Moo plushies dressed as pilots, our old uniform styles.”

“Including green?”

“Including green.”

“Can I feel the big one in green?” Katie handed the mallet over to someone else and held her hands out, ready to feel the larger plush.

Chapter Text

“So cute and squishy!” Regris squished the large, green pilot clad Moo Moo plush. When the others returned from Balto, Moo Moo plush souvenirs were brought, all earned at the amusement park through hard work and skill and absolute fun. It was also learned that Moo Moo was a popular character mascot on Balto, much like Hatsune Miku or Hello Kitty on Earth.

It was also noticed that Katie went for a specifically bigger Moo Moo plush for Regris and happily presented it to him while her brothers handed out the others.

“Lizard boyfriend… that’s gotta be it. That’s gotta be their relationship…” Matt mumbled. Sure, a part of him wasn’t sure before but he did make the comment in the past, even if one of his fellow rebels was sure they weren’t an item. But seeing Katie’s bias, it had to be that. Right?

“Wait… so they’re dating?” Commander Lance asked, looking over to the rebel.

“I don’t know. She hasn’t said anything to me but…” Matt watched as Katie talked with Regris; though the Blade’s face was mostly hidden, as per usual, his mouth was seen and he was smiling brightly. “Like… I’m her big brother and I don’t know. But I can’t ask, she won’t be straight with me. Or, you know, as straight as anyone in our family is…”

“Then leave it to me.” The red coded commander flashed a grin. “I’ve got like cool big bro status with her, we even share coffee.” He then went over, putting his arm over Katie’s shoulder. “Pidgey, my sassy Earthbending-like little inter-dimensional sister.”

“Can he legally say that?” Daniel inquired, looking to Lance.

“Eh, you guys showed on the same network and we were made by like some of the same creators or something.” Lance shrugged. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“You know, I’ve seen a lot of people interact. And I’ve gotta ask you something important.” Commander Lance stated. “Tell ol’ big bro Lancey. Is Regris here your BF?”

“Bee… eff?” Regris asked.

Katie thought it over. BF? BF? Oh yeah! She then grinned. “Yeah! Totally!” she exclaimed. “He’s the first one I’ve made on my own way, and it’s great! We even sleep together!”

Commander Keith chose a horrible time to be drinking coffee. He sputtered and choked, spitting it out and on Shiro, making him yelp. “What?!”

“I don’t even mind her constant mumbling and rolling all over the place.” Regris chuckled.

“I may roll, but you cling.” Katie playfully swatted Regris in the arm. “A lot.”

“Not my fault.”

“Mm-hmm.” Keith couldn’t help but chuckle. “Anyway, I’m taking the rest of my stuff I got back to Green. Care to help, Reg?”

“Sure thing.” Regris nodded. He watched as Katie slipped away from Commander Lance, though the commander seemed stiff and easy to get away from. He then followed after. “Um… the others looked a little stunned?”

“Really? Couldn’t tell.”

“Of course. Cheeky.”

“You know you love me.”

“Can’t deny that.”

Regris and Katie then left the room. Once out, though, Regris had to ask. “By the way, what’s bee eff?”

“BF. Letters.” Katie informed. “It has a handful of meanings, but I see it as best friend.” She smiled brightly. “Which you are. And best friend is a great friend title.”

“Can someone have two best friends?”

“Totally!”

“Well, you’re one of them then.”

“Keith is clearly the other.”

“Yeah.” Regris nodded. “Hmm. We should make a nest later. Have a besties nest for snuggling and sleeping.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Katie nodded in agreement.

With Katie and Regris out of the room, the others couldn’t help but stare in shock. Commander Lance then looked to Matt. “Your sister is younger than the cadets! And she is… and with him?!”

“I… she… he… they…” Matt was at a loss and just stammered.

“They’re just messing with us, right?” Commander Lance asked. “They even said a love you bit.”

“I don’t know… that sounded pretty serious.” Sergeant Hunk looked worried. “Like, it had to be, right? They’re just like… this old couple. Cheeky with each other, having fun…”

“Damn… younger than me and with more charisma to get a date?” Daniel asked. “And more act-” He looked to see Commander Keith glaring at him. “Not that I’m hoping for action myself. Still sixteen and all. Nope. No action. I’ll stay that way for some years. No need to worry about me.” He looked away to avoid that cold, icy glare.

“There has to be something to this… right?” Commander Keith looked to his counterpart and Shiro. “Shiro, you’re in charge of your cadets, so…”

“Um… well…” Shiro thought it over. “They uh… take naps together?”

Keith waved it off. “No, no, I think they mean it in a literal sense of sleeping.” he assured.

“You think?” Commander Lance stated.

“Well. Away on missions and sleeping in their room, I don’t have eyes on them. Not that I spy on them.” Keith explained. “But they do literally sleep together. Like having a never ending slumber party. He’s also the only one Pidge listens to to properly sleep. Something about having a messed up sleep schedule from our missions and awkward schedules in addition to… uh… I think she called it non-24?”

“Yeah, that’s what she lives with.” Matt informed. “But last I knew, she wasn’t taking any medicine to treat it. Just functioning on her own time.”

“That’s pretty much how it stayed after you guys left and were captured.” Chip added. “Chief tries to keep her on a schedule, but without the perception of light, it’s not always easy.” He then motioned to the Galran paladin. “By the way, Keith’s probably right. As her twin, I’d know if things were going on. Pidge and Regris are just close.”

“Close? Dude, they’re dating.” Commander Lance reminded. “She even acknowledged him being her boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I don’t think anyone misheard that one.” Sergeant Hunk nodded.

“But… she judge acknowledged to him being her BF.” Hunk stated.

“Yeah. BF. Boyfriend. B. Boy. F. Friend.” Sergeant Hunk spelled it out for the others.

“But it can also mean best friend, can’t it?” Lance asked. This got their hosts to freeze. Was that right?

“But… she… he… they…” Commander Lance was on the same level of losing his words as Matt. He looked to the rebel.

“I don’t know anymore, man!” Matt exclaimed. “And I am not going to be nosy and dig further, because I’m likely to be zapped by her…”

“I mean… okay, maybe Keith’s right.” Daniel stated. “Maybe sleep is literal. But, is it so bad if they’re dating?”

“Not to me. Maybe.” Keith admitted. “I mean, Regris is my best friend and Pidge is like my sister. So… the thought of them dating… he would be good for her. He already is good for her, but…” Ah, that family-friend conundrum. It was not easy. He felt Shiro pat his back to comfort him.

-+-+-+-

It was a long day with no issues. Pidge helped Ulaz study Sven’s infection to figure out a cure while the Chip duo worked on checking data to see if they could open a wormhole again to help the paladins get home. No robeasts. No Drule attacks. Nothing. It was peaceful.

And with that peaceful evening, Katie and Regris were found collecting blankets and pillows and creating a nest, a few plushes Katie won, including the gifted Moo Moo, at the edge. It was there that Keith found them and decided to join them by falling face first into the pile of softness.

“Hey, Keith.” Katie greeted.

“How’d you know?” Keith mumbled, his voice muffled by blankets.

“That oof you made when you hit the covers and how you walk.” Katie informed. “Long day?”

“I was training. A lot. The other Lance and Keith and Shiro. It was busy. Fun, but busy.” Keith rolled over and sat up. “Hey, Pidge, can I ask something?”

“Sure, but whether or not I answer all depends.” Katie responded.

“When you said yes about Regris being your BF…” Keith leaned in. “Did you mean best friend? Or boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend?” Regris asked. “Isn’t that an Earthling term, much like girlfriend, for those courting each other?” He looked to Katie and back to Keith. “But we’re not courting?”

“We’re not courting.” Katie grinned. “I just wanted to mess with the other Lance since he was getting nosy. Otherwise I would’ve called Regris my best friend in the open.”

“But you are biased.” Keith motioned to the green pilot Moo Moo. “He got the largest plush.”

“I am biased, I don’t deny it. He’s my bestie.” Katie chuckled. “Aww! Are you jealous?”

Keith pouted a bit. “No?”

“Jealous.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am not.”

“You totally ar-ah!” Katie got smacked with a pillow. She then grabbed another pillow and smacked Keith back with it, the two quickly falling into a pillow fight.

While Katie and Keith were having their pillow fight, Chip had joined up with Lance, Hunk, and the cadets to wind down with them while the adults continued with whatever else. They walked in on the feuding duo.

“You guys are having a pillow fight? Without us?!” Lance exclaimed, offended by that act.

“Dude! You guys get to have fun like this, too?” Daniel asked, looking amazed. “Not fa-” He then got a face full of pillow and was knocked back.

“Did I hit him?” Katie asked.

“It depends… who did you aim for?” Hunk inquired.

“Daniel.”

“Yeah, you got him.” Hunk nodded.

“Dude!” Daniel sat up. “Are you sure you’re blind?!”

“Blind and capable.” Katie cackled.

“Well don’t expect me to go easy on you!” Daniel wasted no time to get into the pillow fight, throwing the pillow right back at Katie.

Regris just sat in the nest, watching the others roughhouse. “Earthlings really are a weird race. And the one Arusian.” He chuckled a bit. “Well, there went getting Pidge to bed in a timely manner.” He grabbed his Moo Moo plush to hug as he watched the teens go at it. “But, at least they’re having fun.” He then got hit in the face with a pillow by mistake. It was thankfully enough to get him to join in the playful fighting.

So, the night wasn’t entirely peaceful and quiet. But it was fun and the teens could actually enjoy themselves.

Chapter Text

“You sure it’s not too early?” Hunk asked as he helped his counterpart work on a badass hot-rod looking grill. Yellow lion-coded, of course.

“Dude, it’s never too early for a barbecue.” Sergeant Hunk hummed, finishing the final touches and getting it lit. “Okay! Now let’s these ribs going!” He turned to the counter, a massive rack of ribs already seasoned and ready to be grilled up. Hunk wanted to ask him about them and the size, but he felt more afraid of the answer. He felt the creature may have been frightening. Potentially delicious, but definitely frightening.

“Also, I don’t think it’s safe to cook using jet fuel.” Hunk pointed out.

“No worries! This stuff is 100% certified flammably safe!” Sergeant Hunk assured, waving it off. “I just made sure not to use as much as last time to make it safer.”

“Last time?” Hunk asked. Sure, he wasn’t sure if flammably was a word and questioned about the safe aspect but the idea that he had done this before hit him.

“It’s fine!” the tech sergeant cheered. “The BBQ is back o-” He stopped when it burst into flames, scorching the ribs so badly, the meat wasn’t just burnt, it was cremated. “It’s back off…” He let out a dejected sigh. He then watched as flames started bursting underneath the grill. “Oh boy.” He stepped back, arm out to indicate for Hunk to do the same.

The two Hunks then stared, one in slight defeat and the other in great worry, as the grill was launched out of the room and right through the ceiling, yeeting itself out of the castle and into the air.

“Aw man. Not again…” Sergeant Hunk sighed.

“AGAIN!?” Hunk exclaimed.

-+-+-+-

“Hmm?” Princess Allura looked as she walked in with her counterpart, noticing the Chip duo at one monitor, Pidge and Ulaz at another, and Commander Keith standing in the center of the room, checking the screens in front of him. “Where are the others?”

“Hmm? Oh, Princess. And, uh, Princess.” The commander dipped his head respectfully. “Well, Hunk and cadet Hunk are off fixing breakfast. And cadet Keith is with Regris, Matt, and Lance doing combat training. All the while, Shiro and I are overseeing our cadets in flight training exercises, and cadets Lance and Pidge are with them.”

“Oh?” Princess Allura went over to see the screens more clearly, catching footage of some lions out on their flights. The paladins’ blue, black, and green lions were accompanied by their own red, blue, and green. “Looks like they’re doing well.”

“Oh, how wonderful.” the Altean princess cheered, clasping her hands together. “It’s good to train together. Though separate Voltrons and different realities, we are still a team.”

“That’s right.” Commander Keith nodded. “And this is good for the cadets, too. Getting them some lion time but also making sure they are training.” He stopped ant looked to the screen, ready to open his mouth when Daniel showed to be pushing some limits and wanting to break from formation in the red lion.

Shiro, though, was ahead of him on that.

“Daniel, fall back in formation.” Shiro ordered.

“Ugh, all this formation stuff…” Daniel grumbled. “C’mon! Red’s supposed to be the fastest! Isn’t it like some sort of insult to not speed off?”

“Within reason, sure, but these exercises aren’t about speed; it’s about flying as a team, as if we were one.” Shiro reminded.

Commander Keith smiled and looked back at the visiting princess. “And your paladins haven’t been at this long?”

“Not really.” Allura said. “They came together rather recently. And suddenly. And fate threw them together as a team.” She smiled. “But Shiro has shown time and time again that he has the spirit of a true leader. And look.” She motioned to the screen; as much as Daniel hated it, he actually fell into formation, keeping proper pace. Or trying. It was easier said than done to go slow, both for the cadet and for the lion; that control, though, was good practice. “Even your cadets adapt and learn to listen.”

Commander Keith let out a half-laugh breath. He figured that obedience and listening would have been short lived had Shiro been there even longer. Kids were just that way, but that was part of teaching them instead of just throwing them out into the fray. He then looked when the alarms went off.

“Huh? An attack?” Commander Keith asked. “Shiro, what’s the visual out there?”

“We’ve got visual!” Shiro reported. “It’s a… a… flying grill?”

“What?” Commander Keith was dumbstruck.

“Again?” Pidge looked over.

“What do you mean again?” Shiro inquired.

Outside, those in the lions watched as a grill was just launched out of the castle and flung into the air. It was strange yet oddly impressive. And very confusing.

“You don’t see that every day.” Lance commented.

“No, but you sometimes hear it more often than you’d expect.” Katie admitted.

“Um… what?” Larmina blinked.

“Yeah… I can cook and bake, but, uh, there’s a reason why Matt and I aren’t actually allowed to grill anymore.” Katie admitted. She then moved Green out of formation and caught the grill in her jaws, only crushing it sightly; the dents could be banged back out. “Caught it!”

“Nice catch, Pidgey!” Lance praised.

Daniel just grinned. Catching the grill? That seemed like fun. “Hey! Toss it here!” He flew off a bit with the red lion. Not even questioning things, Katie flung Green’s head to the side, making her toss the grill away and even past Daniel, prompting him to go after it.

It didn’t take much after that for the cadets and younger paladins to fall into tossing the grill around, treating it like a game.

“Hey! C’mon, guys!” Sergeant Hunk came up on the comms. “That’s my grill!”

“Sorry Hunk.” Larmina chuckled. “But you did just chuck it off into the sky.”

“Hey, don’t make me come up there and get it.” The Sergeant sounded more like he was ready to join in on the playing around than actually getting after the lot.

“Hah! You’d have to try and get it from us then.” Lance snorted, catching the grill next.

“Guys, what happened to the training?” Commander Keith called. He then let out a sigh. Training turned into playing. Great.

“In a way they still are training.” Allura informed, making the commander look to her curiously. “They’re working together to play and keep it from hitting the ground. It looks like a game, but it brings them closer together.” She then looked when two yellow lions had left the ground and joined the playing, the groups splitting up into two teams to play a sort of aerial game of soccer.

“I think this will be fine for them.” Princess Allura chimed in. “And look, competitive play. It’ll help them be good sports and work with their mixed teams, too. And have fun.” She put a hand on the commander’s shoulder. “So, let’s not worry too much, okay?”

The commander watched for a moment before nodding. “You’re right.” he said, agreeing with the statements of the princesses. He stepped away from the screens for a moment. “Anyway,” He looked to the two pairs as they worked, “any progress in Sven’s cure or getting our guests home?”

“Not that there’s any rush.” Princess Allura quickly added, not wanting the others to feel unwelcome.

“We’re trying, but it’s not going well.” Sergeant Chip sighed. “I really am not seeing how my wormhole generator pierced the realities… it’s just not logical.”

“We’re not giving up but…” Chip shook his head. “It’s not going well, either.”

“Well, keep at it. Though our guests are welcomed, they do need to get to their reality, too.” Commander Keith reminded. He then looked to Pidge and Ulaz, the small tech sergeant perking up. He looked to have good news.

“I think we found what Sven needs!” Pidge stated. “Ulaz really is a medical genius.”

“When examining his blood and condition, though different, it does remind me of quintessence poisoning.” Ulaz informed.

“Quintessence?” Princess Allura.

“More or less? Life energy. All things give it off. People, plants, planets, animals. Everything.” Allura explained. “It also holds the highest energy output per unit of volume with little decay over the course of deca-phoebs.” She then looked to Ulaz. “But it’s life energy. How can it poison?”

“Life can be corrupted, Princess. And the stuff we know is easily tainted.” Ulaz informed. He then shook his head. “Anyway, while not exact, it is similar enough, the Haggarium acting much like it. But with applying the data and testing the samples, I believe we have a way of eradicating it. It won’t be instantaneous, he’ll need treatments over the course of phoebs, maybe even deca-phoebs-”

“Which are what, again?” Commander Keith asked.

“In comparison? A phoeb is about a month, a deca-phoeb is about a year in our terms.” Chip interjected, knowing that one. “In fact, a phoeb is a bit longer than an Earth month.”

“Right, thanks.” The commander nodded.

“But the point is, he can be cured. And it shouldn’t be too hard to have a ready supply of medicine for his treatments.” Ulaz continued. “In fact, if he keeps up with his treatments, he should be good to return here to Arus soon enough. Or go wherever his home is. So long as he keeps up with his treatments. And I should be able to have some medicine ready in the next quintant; it’ll be easy for it to be replicated so he can have more doses to cover him until he’s fully recovered.”

“A quintant is about a day.” Chip clarified.

“He should also be taking every couple of weeks and have checks-ins, too, to ensure it is working up until he is fully clear.” Pidge finally added. “But that is easy and he can go back home to Pollux if he wishes.”

“Why wouldn’t he wish it?” Princess Allura asked. “I’m sure he misses Romelle.”

“Yeah, but he did kinda just run off and hide on a frozen planet with their son.” Pidge chuckled a bit, though he seemed nervous. “As they say on Earth, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

“Hell hath no fury like a woman, period.” Chip mumbled, thinking of his mother and sister’s quick attitudes and temperaments.

Ulaz blinked. “That makes sense.” he stated.

“Well, at least it’s a good start and Sven won’t be isolated on Crydor any longer.” Commander Keith smiled, pleased to hear that news. He then jolted when he heard an explosion over the comms, prompting him to return to his screens to see the others on screen. “What happened?”

“Uh… good news is we didn’t blow up the castle.” Sergeant Hunk stated. “Bad news is we need to contact the landscaper. Again.”

“Extra bad news,” Lance sighed, “we actually kinda fully destroyed that grill… so… no BBQ…”

Commander Keith smacked his forehead with his palm, the action quite audible and making Pidge and Sergeant Chip wince. “Of course…” he sighed.

“Maybe we should gather everyone and go out?” Sergeant Hunk suggested. “There’s some nice and delicious places in the nearby town to get some breakfast. And it’d be great introducing these guys to more of Arus’ culture and food.” He grinned. “And with us, they won’t have any issue with Ulaz and fuzzy Keith’s appearances!”

Princess Allura nodded. “That’s an excellent idea!” She had no hesitations in agreeing to that. “You guys go ahead and land the lions and we’ll get the others from the training deck.” Well, at least they could still have a group activity with breakfast, even if it wasn’t with the grill and the questionably ginormous rack of ribs.

Chapter Text

“And next time you think it’s a glorious idea to make decisions that impact our family, actually use that brain of yours and think to talk WITH THE FAMILY!”

“Um… you think we should intervene?” Daniel asked.

“You don’t have many women in your life, do you?” Lance asked.

“Uh… just the princess, Larmina, and Mom.” Daniel admitted.

“Well take it from a guy with plenty of aunts, two sisters, a sister-in-law, and a mom.” Lance patted Daniel on the shoulder. “Never EVER get in the way of a rightfully frustrated woman, especially during family affairs.”

“Yeah, that family affair?” Larmina watched as the young woman turned on the other pilots.

“And you! YOU! You didn’t think to contact me that you found my husband and had my son here on Arus?!” Commander Lance was actually hiding behind Pidge at that rage.

“I think it’s spreading to the others.” Larmina pointed out. “Well, I guess to Aunt Romelle, they’re family, too. Especially Aunt Allura.”

Romelle, Queen Regent of Pollux. Cousin of Princess Allura. She was not a woman to mess with. She was one to boldly go into battle when needed and fight alongside her people to protect them. She was also not opposed to yelling at the Voltron Force when they mess up big time.

Sven was on the path to recovery. It would take time and multiple treatments, but he was on the right path. His son, Erik, was also just fine and dandy, though he would need occasional checkups to make sure that continued, but that was no issue. After the former blue lion pilot was given his first treatment and brought back to Arus, Romelle was contacted. And she came with many demands, questions, and a ton of chastising for how he and even the force acted.

“So, how long does this usually last?” Daniel actually asked.

“Eh, it depends.” Lance thought it over. “My Tia Lucia? No, no, no. You wouldn’t want to be at the wrong end of that, you wouldn’t get away for hours. And if you end up watching it? Bring snacks.”

“Yeah, but Aunt Romelle is Polluxian.” Larmina informed. “And Polluxians are pretty much Arusians. We’re more sophisticated than that Earthling behaviour.”

“DO YOU EVEN HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I HAVE BEEN THIS ENTIRE TIME!?” Romelle continued on. “I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHERE MY SON WAS ALL THIS TIME!”

“Yeah… sophistication has left the room when it comes to a literal angry mother.” Lance stated.

“Well, at least Erik’s not bothered by his mom getting angry.” Hunk hummed as he watched the baby as he sat up, using Kosmo as support so he could play with a ball. While Romelle was tearing into the others, Sergeant Chip being grateful he got to sit with the visitors and cadets instead of being chastised, the remaining group looked to babysitting Erik, the baby enjoying the attention and being able to play. The little tyke even enjoyed tossing a ball for Bae Bae to chase, giggling when she’d bring it back for him to toss again.

“I see what was meant by hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Ulaz mused, actually intrigued by what he was witnessing. As intriguing as it was, he knew better than to get involved. “Fellow Blades can be much the same. But with more violence.” He shook his head. “Never get on the bad side of a mother Blade.”

“Trust me, Ulaz, when you get to meet our mom?” Matt spoke up. “You’ll be saying that about all moms. Hell, even Olia can be scary protective.” He then looked over to Katie, his sister working on something, her headphones plugged into her computer as she ignored the others. “I’d hate to see Pidgey as a mom. She’d probably be the scariest of them all.”

After chastising the others and laying into them, Romelle finally settle down and took a breath. She relaxed enough to talk calmly.

“You had me worried, Sven. Please… next time something comes up, won’t you talk to me first?” Romelle inquired, her eyes watery a bit with emotions.

Sven nodded. He knew it. He knew he screwed up. And he knew he was blessed to have a wife who would still welcome him back. “I’m sorry. I just… I didn’t want anything to happen to you. The bouts of rage I’d get. And the cold was effective for the haggarium in us. And I couldn’t ask you to abandon Pollux; Bandor still needs to grow and learn before he is ready to rule.”

Romelle put her hand up to her husband’s cheek. “We’d have found a way to help you, though. But I’m glad you’re okay. You and Erik both.” She smiled. “And I kind of like this look for you. You look good with this facial hair.”

Sven chuckled a bit. He then hugged Romelle, relieved that she was okay with him again. He wanted to go for a kiss, but he worried it would be too much. It wasn’t since she kissed him instead. “I am forgiven?”

“This time, yes.” Romelle nodded. “Though if this happens again-”

“I will not make the same mistake again.” Sven assured. “Might not have to either with this medicine and treatment, too.” He then looked over when he heard Erik coo. “But best of all, Erik is well.”

“He is.” Romelle smiled at her son, adoring as he threw the ball for Bae Bae again. She then looked to see Ulaz near her son.

Ulaz. Drule. Galra in the terms of the visitors. At first he and the Galran Keith were alarming, but she quickly settled down, understanding that they were allies and meant no harm. And it was with his help that she got her husband back.

Ulaz went and gently picked up Erik, the baby giggling. He poked the tyke’s belly, making him laugh even more. He went over to where the couple was and carefully handed him over, letting Romelle take him.

“He’s doing well and very healthy.” Ulaz assured. “And in time, I am sure your husband will follow.”

“Thank you.” Romelle cradled Erik in one arm and put her free hand on Ulaz’s arm. “Thank you for helping them both.” She then went to snuggle her son, happy to have him back in her life. She was happy to have both Sven and Erik back.

“I owe you a debt of gratitude.” Sven said, dipping his head respectfully.

“Just don’t make the same mistake and we shall consider it even.” Ulaz stated. “I would hate to be informed my patient died because he infuriated his wife again.”

Sven chuckled. “Of course. I will be sure to follow that.”

With the situation calm again, the others were able to sit around and socialize a bit. But before long, Romelle had to return home to Pollux, but this time with the part of her family she had been missing. For the pilots, it was nice to see them reunited.

“Glad he gets to go home.” Commander Lance mused. “And can get off that iceberg of a planet. And glad that Romelle finally stopped yelling at us.”

“Man… that was just scary…” Sergeant Hunk admitted, still looking a little rattled. “Sven’s goofy accent couldn’t even save me from that fear.” He looked to the cadets, paladins, and ninja. “And you! You did nothing to help?”

“We babysat the kid. We were busy.” Lance smirked.

Commander Lance’s eye twitched. “It took thirteen of you two babysit one kid?”

“Twelve.” Keith motioned to where Katie was still working. “Pidge was busy.”

“But still!” Commander Lance exclaimed. “Why so many?”

“The kid crawls.” Hunk pointed out. “Have you ever babysat a kid who crawls or is starting to walk? You take your eye off them for two seconds and whoosh! They’re gone.”

“How would you know?” the red coded commander questioned.

Hunk motioned to himself and Lance. “We’re both uncles. We got an older sibling each who’s got kids. Plus, we got younger cousins. And I’ve done babysitting for mine.”

“Same here.” Lance hummed. “So trust us on this. We were taking no chances.”

“Then what’s her excuse?” Commander Lance motioned to Pidge.

“Nerd stuff?” Lance looked to his fellow paladin.

“Gotta be nerd stuff.” Hunk nodded.

“Useful nerd stuff, right? She’s not just playing Galaga?” Lance looked over to see the screen with some sort of data. “Doesn’t look like Galaga.”

“She’s blind.” Daniel stated. “How could she play Galaga?”

“Audio cues?” Lance asked.

“Audio cues.” Hunk nodded.

“And Rover.” Matt chimed in. “Rover can see for her. But no, I don’t think she’s playing Galaga.”

“Hmm.” Pidge went over and sat down next to his counterpart. He nudged her. “Hey, what’cha working on?”

“Figuring out the wormhole issue and just how to reverse it to send us back to our reality.” Katie removed her headphones. “And I think I wanna try one more thing.”

“Yeah?” Pidge perked up. “What’s that?”

“I think we’re looking at it wrong. Or rather, looking at it IS what’s wrong.” Katie smiled. “I think our ticket to getting it right and sending us home is a quantum frequency.”

“A quantum frequency?” Sergeant Chip asked. He walked over. “We already got that it’s numbers, but if that’s the case, it’d be too high of a frequency.”

“For us, maybe. But a machine can pick up on the frequencies better.” Katie informed. “However, I don’t think that’s the full commentary to this picture. Think. Another reality is a bit like walking through a mirror.”

“But you can’t enter a mirror. It’s solid.” Pidge reminded.

“Think outside the box, buddy. Think of stories and movies where you enter a mirrorverse and it’s all flipped.” Katie prompted. “So, if it’s flipped, we invert it. So, if we invert the frequency, we’ll only get a partial transmittance of what we can collect.”

“Okay, okay, I think I see what you’re hearing.” Pidge nodded and decided to do that part. “And then if we tune it from there-”

“We can find the frequency that was hit that created the trans-dimensional wormhole!” Sergeant Chip cheered, excited that they were figuring it out.

“Precisely!” Katie exclaimed, just as thrilled.

“Bada bing bada boom! Here we go!” Pidge brought up the new data. Coordinates and codes that could enable them to cross over into the other reality. “We did it. Pidgey! You did it!” He hugged his counterpart. “You figured it out!”

“Yes! Success!” Sergeant Chip cried out as he jumped up and down with joy. “For safety reasons we’ll want to send an unmanned drone just to be sure we’ve got the right reality. But that’s an easy test.” He ruffled Katie’s hair. “Good job, Pidgey.”

“Told ya it had to be useful nerd stuff.” Lance smirked at his counterpart.

“Okay… I am not going to underestimate the kid again.” Commander Lance was shocked. Decent and adaptable with fighting? Able to adopt a giant blue teleporting wolf? Can hold her own when things go bad? Able to outnerd our own resident nerd and figure something out before him? All while being blind? She was impressive. “You know what? Kid.”

“Hmm?” Katie leaned towards him to hear what the commander had to say.

“I’m gonna take a quick run to Earth. I am getting you a death by chocolate chocolate cake. And a frozen coffee drink with extra whipped topping. Ya like that stuff, right?”

“She’s addicted to it.” Matt snorted.

“I can stop whenever I want.” Katie pouted.

“I’m gonna get you these things. We’re gonna celebrate the power of nerds tonight.” Commander Lance declared. “Hell.” He went over and gently kicked the paladin in the butt. “I know you didn’t wanna go before, but you’re coming with me. We’ll get cake. Pizza. Drink our coffee on the way home. We’re gonna have a party and you’re hanging out with me while we get the stuff.”

Katie chuckled. Sure, just a visit to check out Earth? Not her cup of nunvill. But just going for a quick errand and hanging out with the inter-dimensional big brother figure? Why not? Plus, she’d get coffee in the end. “Let’s do this!” she cheered.

Chapter Text

Ah, a beautiful morning on the sunny planet of Arus. It was nice. It was peaceful. It was perfect. No trouble in sight, not even from the Drule Empire.

“ULAZ!!!!!!!!”

Correction.

There was some trouble.

And it was within the castle that the Voltron Force lived in and their guests from another reality were occupying until they could go home.

And it was on that fateful morning that the others learned that Regris could actually panic and freak out. He had found Katie in a compromising situation, looking worse for wear and as if she were defeated by some sneaky attack upon her health and well-being.

“Is she okay?” Regris asked, worry showing as his tail twitched. Everyone was worried. What happened to Katie? Did someone attack? Was this some sort of delayed effect of being captured before? Was she ill? Was she hurt?

Ulaz was quiet as he checked over the paladin as she curled up and whined, grumbling something in some language he didn’t know; perhaps it was one of the many languages on Earth she spoke.

But he did his check and he nodded, certain of the diagnosis. “I have determined her ailment.”

“And?” Princess Allura asked. “If there’s anything we can do for her, we’ll try our best.”

“She just needs rest.” Ulaz stated. “Our littlest paladin has what we Galra call over indulgence. It’s actually pretty common to see celebrating soldiers and commanders suffer this ailment after nights of celebration.”

The others stopped. Over indulgence? As in she had too much of something?

It was Matt who bust out laughing. Worries were defenestrated in an instant once he heard that term. “Pidge ate so much cake it’s come back to bite her in the ass! And her coffee addiction betrayed her! That is perfect!”

“Screw you, Matt!” Katie whined. She then covered her mouth. “Ugh, I think I’m gonna be sick…”

“If you do, it may actually help relieve some of your misery.” Ulaz informed. “Not that you should force it, but kits with this and get sick usually feel some relief.”

“Dude… that’s seriously it?” Commander Lance asked. He then actually smacked Regris in the back of the head. “You had me worried, kid. I dropped my second favourite mug because you startled me; it wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t full and such a waste of coffee.”

“I thought something was wrong…” Regris admitted. “I’ve not seen her like that before…”

Shiro let out a sigh of relief. “Well, nothing a little rest can’t fix. And maybe some ginger ale.”

“No more to drink… too much coffee and cake…” Katie whined.

“Well, this does seem like a good rest day.” Sergeant Chip stated. “While this Pidge rests, we can run the test on the unmanned ship or drone with the wormhole to see if we can get it to the other reality.”

Shiro nodded in agreement. “That seems like a good idea.” he said. “The generator is on your planet, right?”

“That’s right. So we’ll need a ship or lion to get there.”

“Well, so that Arus has full lions here, we can have this reality’s team remain here. I can take the black lion to your planet with you and we can run the tests.” Shiro suggested. “Not like we can do much anyway with our Pidge as sick as a dog.” Hearing that, Bae Bae huffed, a little offended by that. “Oh. Sorry. Figure of speech.” The bull terrier seemed to roll her eyes before going over to nose Katie, checking on her.

“It seems like a good plan.” Commander Keith nodded in agreement.

“And,” Pidge spoke up, “with the cadets here to cover for us if needed, I’d like to go and help out. Two nerds are better than one, you know. And if something does come up, we have three cadets who could use more training and lion time and take over for the green lion.”

Commander Keith was a little more hesitant. Sure, they’ve had the cadets in the lions before, sometimes for needed situations, sometimes because they were brats who would just take the lions for joyrides. But he did see the point and he did see that they could use the experience. “Okay.” The commander nodded again. “Then you lot be good. Hopefully we won’t need a full force of lions out there, but we do have options if needed.”

“Great!” Pidge nodded. He then looked in on Katie. “And try to get better before we get back, okay?” He grinned and chuckled when she actually flipped him off.

“How does she know how to flip someone off?” Daniel actually asked.

“Mom and Matt both taught her.” Chip responded.

“Your mother?” Daniel blinked.

“She’s a whole ‘nother reality of attitude. And where Pidge gets it from.” Chip stated. “We pray you may never have to meet her, I think her sass can make Galran commanders cry.”

“We worry less about her than Dad for a reason.” Matt hummed. “A lot of reasons, actually.”

-+-+-+-

“Wow.” Shiro looked in awe of Balto as he stood in the research tower Sergeant Chip was running his project from. “Vegas has nothing on this place. This is amazing!”

“If we have time after our test,” Sergeant Chip spoke up, “then we can do a little tour. Maybe head out to eat. There’s this diner I love, but we didn’t have time to hit it when we brought the siblings over. It’s in this amazing hydroponic garden with beautiful glowing plants.”

“Sounds like a delight and a good plan.” Shiro nodded. He then finished working on a message. “Okay, and this can be transmitted if the castle is spotted?”

“That’s right.” Sergeant Chip nodded. “Assuming this works out and we can get the ship to the next reality-”

“The math checks out, so it will go through.” Pidge interrupted, absolutely sure of things.

“You say that, but I’ve met my team. And Cliff’s team. Math doesn’t always math right.”

“No, but somehow they’d use the wrong equations and still get the right answer.” Pidge reminded. “Math is really amazing like that.”

Sergeant Chip stared for a moment. “Don’t underestimate the stupidity of some of the guys. It’s not amazing math with them. It’s pure dumb luck.”

Hearing the brothers go back and forth about math, it took everything in Shiro to not laugh hysterically. He was reminded of the Gunderson-Holt family. And not just the siblings. Even the parents. They were all nerds of some kinds and he remembered hearing even Sam and Matt go back and forth about math. It truly was intriguing.

“Anyway,” Shiro interjected before the twins could get frustrated, “when can we run this test?”

“Pretty soon. The wormhole generator is just about ready.” Sergeant Chip responded, quickly dropping his discussion with Pidge. Once everything was ready to go, he uploaded Shiro’s message to send with the ship. “Okay, we are good to go in three. Two. One. Commencing wormhole-reality path test.”

“Path is open.” Another Balton reported. “And completely stable. It is radiating a strange energy, but the signature is like what was detected briefly before the other lion showed up.”

“Sounds like we’ve got the right path then.” Sergeant Chip nodded.

“Test ship is on route.” Another reported.

“Excellent.” Sergeant Chip stood with Pidge and Shiro, watching as the ship was remotely piloted into the rift that was opened up, disappearing; they were able to keep the opening stable and open, waiting for indication to pilot it back.

“Have we got visual on what’s on the other side?” Pidge asked.

“That’s a negative.” one of the researchers there responded as they shook their head. “The energy reading is messing with the systems and distorting the visual too much. However, we are confirming that we still have power and can bring it back at any moment for the time being.”

“Well, if that’s what we can get.” Pidge nodded. “Thanks.”

“How do we know if it’s time to bring it back?” Shiro asked. “Or if it’s in the right place?”

“I… I don’t know.” Sergeant Chip admitted. “This whole wormhole thing is still new to our testing phases. Throw in alternate reality crossing? We’re in the dark with data.”

“That’s fair.” Shiro nodded. He hoped this worked. Sure, he had no doubt about Katie figuring it out and running it with the others, but no one knew for certain how it would work since it was completely knew to all of them.

“Sergeant Pidge, Sergeant Chip,” the one monitoring the ship’s status, “we have confirmation of contact. The ship has picked up and downloaded data.”

“Give it a couple more minutes and then have it directed back.” Sergeant Chip ordered.

“Copy that.”

After those minutes passed, the ship was brought back with relative ease, though it did seem to sustain some damage. While the team inspected it, the data was downloaded and sent to Sergeant Chip’s computer, letting him bring it up.

It was a message, written out in plain English from Earth. And it took everything in Shiro to actually not laugh.

Pidge looked at the message. “Fuck you, Shiro, we are worried. You better return soon before we find Collie ourselves and send her after you. Return safely and soon please, and you all stay safe.” He looked to Shiro. “Well…”

“That was definitely Chief.” Shiro chuckled. “And. I guess I should apologize for worrying them.” He looked to the ninja duo. “Can we send the ship again with another message?”

“We should be able to.” another chimed in. “The ship’s had a little damage, but the readings are telling us what’s up. We should have enough in ‘er for another trip there and back. Then we can let the generator rest for the day.”

“Sounds like you have your answer.” Sergeant Chip informed. “But try to be quick so we don’t overwork the generator.”

“Right.” Shiro nodded and quickly wrote out his message, apologizing for making them worry and that they’ll be back as soon as possible, that the generator needs to rest. He also added in that the kids were all fine, even Katie with her track record.

With that, the ship was sent out again. After a few minutes, it was returned with another message.

“Okay, be safe, be good, and good luck with Pigeon. She can be a handful, I know; though Haxus is more of a handful worrying about her than Coran is worrying about Allura. See you guys as soon as you can get back.”

Shiro smiled. “You know, it’s nice having Chief on the team.” he said. “A real team dad.”

“Sounds like you guys got a nice family and team.” Pidge hummed. “That’s good.”

“Sounds like things went well and we got the right reality. And we got some amazing readings with the generator and how ships respond to reality jumps.” Sergeant Chip informed. “And since we still have time, how about that diner and show you a bit more of the city?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Shiro nodded.

Chapter Text

“Holy crow, she can bake.” Daniel was in shock as he sat in the kitchen, Katie actually baking some peanut butter cookies with the help of Hunk. And there was plenty she did on her own, from finding the ingredients in the kitchen and putting them in and out of the oven for a couple of the batches. Matt told him she could cook and bake, but he found it hard to believe.

Until then.

“Mm! And they’re so good!” Sergeant Hunk hummed as he ate a fresh and delicious cookie. “You two did amazing!”

“No one tell my mom, but this recipe is the best one I’ve tasted for peanut butter cookies.” Hunk admitted. “Pidge, I may need you to repeat it to me so I can write it out one day.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Katie chuckled. She then went and got the last batch out. “And other Hunk, don’t eat them all. I think the other Pidge and Chip would be sad to find out there were cookies but they were all eaten before they could get back.”

“Hey, speaking of cookies and such,” Larmina spoke up, “which, these are actually good tho-” She stopped when her aunt gave her a look. “-And I wouldn’t mind another,” she went for that instead, “but weren’t you not feeling good a couple hours ago or something?”

“Oh yeah, no. I’m still not in the mood to eat.” Katie stated. “My stomach hates me. But I’m feeling well enough to bake. And I plan on saving a few for when I am ready.” She then turned off the oven, feeling the buttons and listening to Rover beep at her. “Thanks, buddy.”

“I’m still amazed that you can cook.” Daniel stated. “I mean, you’re…. Well…”

“Blind. I know. I’ve been that way my entire life.” Katie chuckled. “A lot of people have misconceptions, it happens. Don’t worry. You seem to be learning, though.”

“Yeah. In shock but learning.” Daniel nodded. He grabbed another cookie then stopped when he heard a whine on either side of him. Looking, he could see himself being tag teamed, Bae Bae to the right and Kosmo to the left, each staring at his cookie and licking their lips in that adorable manner as they watched him with pleading eyes. “This is not fair.”

“No, but that’s life with dogs.” Katie snickered. “You can break a cookie in half for them. It’s safe for them.”

“HOW?!” Daniel exclaimed. She was blind. She was COMPLETELY blind. How did she know?

“I know Bae Bae’s whines and I can hear them licking their lips. That as context and your comment of not being fair, it made sense.”

“She’s good.” Daniel mumbled, breaking the cookie in half and handing a piece to each dog.

“That’s Pidge for ya.” Chip hummed.

“Anyway, Pidge,” Princess Allura stated, “these are quite wonderful. Thank you for baking them. And you too, Hunk.” She smiled at the yellow paladin. “You two did great and these are delicious.”

“Man, Pidge baking this well,” Hunk chuckles, “I’m gonna have to guard my job more, otherwise she’s gonna take over.”

“Not likely.” Katie chuckled. “You’re still a good cook and know how to work with non-Earth ingredients.”

“Aww!” Hunk smiled brightly as he hugged Katie, even picking her up. She didn’t mind, though; she knew his hugs and level of affection.

“Fun fact,” Chip spoke up, “only Hunk and Regris are allowed to pick her up suddenly. She freaks out and fights it otherwise. Sometimes panic, sometimes spite and fed up with Ulaz and Haxus making her go to bed. But she lets Regris put her to bed.”

“Talk about being picky.” Daniel chuckled, trying for another cookie. Kosmo and Bae Bae both whined at him. “Oh no. No, no, no. This one’s mine you furry gluttons.” He then saw those eyes. They just stared into him with pure sadness. “Ugh! Fine! You guys are bullies, I hope you know!” He broke it in half for them to share.

“Well, Bae Bae is a bull terrier, but bully would be in her nature.” Matt teased. He then looked when the alarms went off. “Well, baking’s done, so it can’t be the smoke detector.”

“All hands on deck!” Commander Keith called over the voltcoms of those in the kitchen. “We’ve got robeasts coming in!”

“Robeasts?” Princess Allura asked. “As in multiple?”

“Yeah, three of them!” Commander Keith informed. “I’ve just called Shiro, Pidge, and Chip back! But we need full force and all lions out there!”

“Copy that.” Princess Allura nodded. “Vince, Larmina, you two take Green. Daniel, you come with me to Blue.”

“Right!” The cadets all confirmed before running off. The paladins and their partners weren’t far behind, Regris even picking up Katie to carry her off to her lion as Kosmo followed them.

“Bae Bae, behave! Don’t steal cookies while we’re busy!” Chip called as he ran off with Hunk.

Bae Bae whined a bit before looking at the counter. She then huffed and laid down, deciding to behave. Maybe she could convince Daniel to give her more cookies later on.

-+-+-+-

Lions? Check. Ready for combat? Check. Three robeasts all at once?

“With all due respect?” Lance stated. “This is probably the devil’s work.”

“Heh, could probably write and publish a novel on all the bullshit we deal with.” Katie snickered.

“Knock it off with the references, kids, no one is gonna understand that one.” Commander Lance reminded.

“You’d be surprised.” Katie hummed.

“Okay, uh, how about we move on from that.” Commander Keith suggested. “And we need to form Voltron.”

“Three robeasts, can we do that normally?” Daniel asked. “Maybe we should give it the speed boost?”

“That not a good idea, buddy.” Sergeant Hunk pointed out. “We’re gonna drain our energy reserves too quickly for that, then be sitting ducks out there.”

“We’ve got a secondary team that can help keep things at bay.” Commander Keith reminded. “Okay, cadets, uh… paladin cadets. You four need keep those robeasts occupied so we can form Voltron.”

“You do realize you’re not our commanding officer, right?” Keith asked, his ears twitching under his helmet.

“No, but your commanding officer isn’t here and we need to get this done.” Commander Keith stated.

“I hate it as much as you, Keith, but he’s got a point.” Katie sighed. “So, how about we do a little divide and conquer.”

“And maybe some vine blast to help out, ey Pidgey?” Lance suggested.

“Now we’re thinkin’.” Katie grinned as she activated her vine cannon, firing at the three robeasts there, getting them snagged long enough for the other three paladins’ lions to swoop in and attack.

“Nice teamwork, cadets!” Sergeant Hunk praised.

“And speaking of team work, time for us to form Voltron.” Commander Keith nodded. “Activate interlocks. Dyna-therms connected. Infra-cells up. Megathrusters are go.”

“Let’s go Voltron Force!”

“Okay, I’m never gonna get used to that…” Katie mumbled.

“So glad we don’t have that…” Keith sighed.

“Not that we can form Voltron ourselves, Shiro’s not back yet!” Hunk reminded his team.

“Don’t worry, Hunk.” Lance assured. “We’re probably not even gonna need our Voltron! We’ve got three small robeasts, this reality’s Voltron, and four lions! We got it made!”

Or so they thought. What the others didn’t expect was for the three robeasts, all the size of that reality’s Voltron, come together, turning and forming to create a much larger robeast, almost the paladins’ Voltron.

“Guys? I may be blind but… I think I just saw these guys have an Albegas protocol.” Katie deadpanned.

“Dammit, Lance!” Matt explained. “You just had to jinx us, didn’t you?”

“Hijo de puta.” Lance grumbled.

“Well, we’ve fought bigger. We can handle this.” Commander Keith declared.

“Um… have we?” Sergeant Hunk asked.

“A couple times, yeah. There was that one centipede robeast and Castle Doom.” Daniel stated.

“Man, that was so long ago, I forgot about them.” Commander Lance stated. “Thank you for being a huge Voltron nerd.”

“Happy to help. Anyway, that thing just went Albegas on us and got bigger. That’s actually a bit intimidating.” He didn’t want to show it, but the new robeast left even the hot headed cadet nervous. “All hands on deck, right? Should we get Awesometron out, too?”

“Awesometron?” Lance asked.

“That’s a negative, cadet.” Commander Keith stated. “We still need a pilot for the green lion and you’ve not tested your vehicles for full combat yet, especially against robeasts.”

“Hey, we fought before.” Daniel stated.

“But uh… it was against a mechanized toy replica of Voltron…” Vince added on.

“Shh!” Daniel hissed over the comms. Great way to make it seem less cool.”

“Hey, uh, guys?” Matt asked. “Yeah, I’m loving your conversation and chat about this Awesometron and such, and I’d love to see it when this is all done and Robeast Albegas is destroyed. BUT CAN THE VOLTRON TEAM WITH ACTUAL EXPERIENCE STOP CHATTING AND HELP FIGHT!?!?!?”

“Oh yeah.” Commander Lance chuckled a bit, realizing that the paladins were right on fighting while the others were on standby.

“Sorry about that, cadets.” Commander Keith said. “We’ve got you. Form blazing sword!”

The pilots’ Voltron went at the robeast, ready to fight and take it down. However, it wasn’t enough. Even with Vince’s energy boosting Voltron to help fight against the Haggarium that fueld it, it wasn’t enough.

The robeast was bigger and stronger compared to them.

“This is not working!” Hunk cried. “And we’ve never been able to take down a robeast ourselves in lion formation!”

“Well, we’re down a lion so we can’t have double Voltron.” Sergean Hunk stated.

“Ulaz, are you at the command center?” Commander Keith actually asked. “Do you have anything on Shiro getting back?”

“I’ve contacted him and the others and they said they would get here um…” Ulaz thought it over. “ASAP? Whatever that is?”

“As soon as possible. It’s an anagram.” Katie stated.

“And true to my word, I’m here as soon as possible.” Shiro said over the comms, his lion flying in. “Okay, paladins, let’s form Voltron. Commander Keith, can you cover us for that?”

“We’ll do our best.” the commander of the Voltron Force stated.

“Then let’s go!” Shiro led the paladins into formation, ready to bring Voltron together. And far more silently than the others did.

While the paladins were forming their own defender, the others were working on holding off the robeast. It was easier said than done, though. Bigger. Stronger. They didn’t know any weak points yet.

And then a sort of cannon opened up on the chest, beaming with purplish energy. Haggarium. Before the others could get away, it fired, its aim perfect to actually hit them.

But they were shielded as a much larger-than-them Voltron came down, a shield held by the green lion blocking that energy filled blast.

“Oh shit, they are definitely bigger.” Commander Lance stated.

Chapter Text

“They have a shield?!” Vince exclaimed.

“Hey!” Pidge was holding onto the back of Shiro’s seat. “We have a shield, too! Okay, granted it’s only in green center formation but still!”

“Hey, can we marvel at differences and such after we defeat this thing?” Katie asked. “Because Albegas there has a cannon on its chest and I can’t block it with my vine cannon with in Voltron formation.”

“The kid’s right.” Commander Lance stated. “And we may need to break out the big guns. Keith?”

“Right.” Commander Keith nodded. “Form red center!”

With that, the lions came apart just enough for the red and black lions to swap places. As much as the paladins wanted to mention that, because it was rather neat difference, but they knew they had more important things to do.

“Alright, form magma pistols.” Commander Lance smirked as two pistols formed in Voltron’s hands. “Time for a shootout against… are we seriously calling it Albegas? Isn’t that a disgrace to the show?”

“Yes and yes, but it’s better than constantly saying the robeast this and the robeast that.” Katie reminded. “That gets boring and repetitive after a while.”

“Touche.” Commander Lance nodded. Couldn’t fight that logic. “Anyway, how about this for a plan. You guys keep Albegas open and occupied and I shoot out that cannon, hmm?”

“Crude but effective.” Shiro confirmed. “We’re on it.”

With a sword held by the red lion and the shield by the green lion, the paladins’ Voltron went on to strike, aiming for any potential weaknesses in the robeast. Meanwhile, the pilots took to shooting at the cannon, hoping to take it out of commission. The plan seemed to work as the cannon exploded a bit after a few moments of shooting.

Two versus one seemed like a good match up. The robeast was power boosted through Haggarium, and one Voltron was very noticeably smaller, but they did their best to fight their foe together.

“Okay, bad news is this guy isn’t defeated yet.” Lance stated. “Good news is we’re totally owning this fight! It shouldn’t be long before we take him down! Nothing can go wrong!”

Katie’s eye twitched. “Matt, please smack him for me.”

Matt wasted no time. He even took off Lance’s helmet and smacked him upside the head. The blue paladin yelped.

“Hey! What was that for?!” Lance exclaimed.

“For jinxing us!” Katie snapped.

“She’s right.” Matt sighed, shoving Lance’s helmet back on him. “Be happy she didn’t use Kosmo to teleport here instead, she hits harder.”

“Yeah, I know.” Lance pressed his legs together, thinking of having been hit in the crotch by that blind gremlin.

“You two do realize I’m hearing you, right?” Katie asked. “I’m blind, not deaf.”

“Pidge, simmer down or I’m telling Haxus you got hurt when we get back.” Shiro threatened, quickly shutting up the green paladin. “But let’s stay on guard and finish this.”

At the castle, Ulaz was monitoring things from the castle, scanning the area and keeping readings on the Voltrons and the robeast. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. With strikes, the Haggarium energy seemed to swell, clearly to fight the others and hopefully weaken them. But Ulaz didn’t notice it at first. That Haggarium was steadily increasing and making itself known.

“Teams, be on guard.” the Galran informed after he finally took notice. “We have a greater increase of Haggarium in that robeast detected. It may be planning something.”

“Copy that.” Shiro confirmed.

“Great, Haggarium.” Commander Keith grumbled.

“But we’re fine, right?” Sergeant Hunk asked. “We’ve got Vince. He can neutralize it.”

“Yeah, but we don’t know how our guests would handle it.” Pidge stated. “This Voltron and the lions are completely new to us.”

“Well, I feel we can handle it.” Allura stated. “The strength of Voltron and the quintessence that runs through it, we should be able to fight it.”

“Well, hopefully we won’t find out and we take this down first.” Keith stated.

Combat continued. The robeast was getting knocked around and seemed to be weakening. As it weakened, though, that energy seemed to grow. The smaller Voltron returned back to the black lion center and they brought out their blazing sword. With two swords at the ready with the two Voltrons, they decided to go at the robeast from either side, slicing into it.

And slicing into the robeast was a bit like popping a balloon filled with powdered sugar. The energy was dispersed like sweetened dust.

And at first it seemed fine. They defeated the robeast. However, things weren’t fine. The paladins quickly noticed something was screwing with their systems. Lights in the cockpits were turning purple, which at first wasn’t alarming to Shiro, but he quickly knew it was bad because he knew the colours of the others.

Kosmo whined. He could feel the change in things. Haggarium. He then shoved Regris closer to Katie before pressing against the both of them. Before the energy could inhibit his teleportation, he teleported, taking the green team to the other red lion, surprising Commander Lance.

“HOLY SHIT DON’T DO THAT!” the commander yelped in surprise. He then blinked. “Wait… what’s going on in there?”

“Not sure. I just felt weird energy and the comms got all crackly. And I was losing vision in Green.” Katie informed.

“It’s probably the Haggarium; all the lights went from green to purple.” Regris informed.

“Yeah, even those lights we see out here are purple.” Commander Lance explained. He then looked to Katie. “Uh… purple is… um…”

“Yeah, I get the slight idea of purple lights thanks to mind melding training devices back at our castle.” Katie stated. “Team, do you copy? Keith? Matt? Chip!” She was worried. She got no responses from anyone and only the crackle of static. “This isn’t good.” She nudged Kosmo. “Can you get me back in there? We need to know what happened.”

Kosmo seemed unsure of the plan, but he tried nonetheless. Some quick teleportation, he got them over to the red lion’s mouth, unable to go fully in with his ability. That told them the first thing: there was too much Haggarium for Kosmo to fully teleport. But they had to investigate the rest, still.

Katie grumbled and Regris’ tail tingled. The energy bothered them both as they got up to the cockpit.

“Keith, Princess!” Regris called, stepping in. Immediately he regretted it and dodged to the side, pulling Katie with him as Allura attacked. “Oh, that’s not good.”

“What? What is it?” Katie asked.

“Our sign to get out!” He got up and picked up Katie; he then ran out as Allura went after them, Kosmo at his side. Once out, he jumped. “If we’re clear, teleportation would be nice!”

Kosmo let out a huff before teleporting, getting them back to the safety of the other red lion.

“What’s going on in there?” Commander Lance asked. He then grunted when their Voltron was hit, the paladins’ defender actually attacking them. “What the hell, man!”

“They’re not in control.” Regris reported, putting Katie down. “I mean, they are, but they aren’t in control of themselves. Allura and Keith both have glowing purple eyes and the princess tried to attack us.”

“Oh quiznak…” Katie grumbled.

“Oh no… so they’re infected by Haggarium.” Commander Lance stated.

The paladins’ Voltron tried to fight more, but without Katie to help hold the bond and the Haggarium coursing through it and the remaining paladins, it came apart, reduced to lions. Green fell and crashed into the surface of the planet while the others were left to fly around. The others anticipated an attack, but the lions then flew off, heading to who knew where.

“Keith, what do we do?” Sergeant Hunk asked. “Pidge and Chip were with them, too! And we don’t know where they went!”

“We’ll find out as soon as we can.” Commander Keith stated. “We need to check on this Pidge and Regris first and make sure they didn’t get infected, too. And check the green lion.”

-+-+-+-

“Four! Four lions! Maahox! I expected five lions! Not one or two or thee or four! But five!” Lotor snapped at the scientist. “What the hell am I supposed to do with four lions?!”

“Four Haggarium infected lions, need I remind you?” Maahox dared to say. “And a bit over twice as many people just as infected and able to fight.” He went around to the paladins and their passengers, checking them out. Each stood there, ready for orders as they were infected with Haggarium. Unlike the last time he successfully infected others with Haggarium, these ones weren’t groaning for brains.

“Imagine, my king.” Maahox hummed. “They would know how to take down the others. And capture their missing pilot. That little blind one, I do believe.” He smirked. “Then you’ll have your own more powerful and much bigger Voltron to control.”

“Perhaps.” Lotor went to the others and looked them over. Some didn’t even look able to fight. Hell, most didn’t. They were just children! Just around or barely older than the cadets of the Voltron force. He was sure one of them, Chip, was younger with his matching face to Katie. “You.” He looked to Lance. “Show me what you can do.”

Lance didn’t hesitate as he quickly pulled out his bayard and let it form into the blaster. He then shot an area of the under-construction castle, destroying it and sending debris to fall on top of unsuspecting Drule soldiers. Seeing this, Lotor just grinned.

“Well, you may not have fully screwed up, Maahox.” Lotor stated, missing the scientist’s scowl. How was this his mess-up? He couldn’t control everything! “This may work out just well.”

Chapter Text

“Ulaz, I swear it, I’m fine.” Katie insisted.

“You’re fine when I say you’re fine.” Ulaz nearly snarled at the paladin. He finished his checks over her, Regris, and Kosmo. Once finished, he looked to Commander Keith. “They’re all clear. There aren’t any traces of Haggarium in them. My guess is that they got out of Green fast enough before it really hit.”

“Good.” Commander Keith nodded. “However, there’s still an issue. The other paladins and those with them seem to be compromised.” He looked to Katie. “I can see how the Haggarium would affect the pilots, but affecting the others, too? They don’t have a bond like you pilots do.”

“True, but energy disperses. Like water in a water balloon when it pops. Fwoosh!” Katie stated. “Look, we’re dealing with an alien energy source that corrupts and twists. Do YOU know everything about it.” She waited for the commander to response, but the silence was a little long and awkward as he tried to find the right response. “Yeah, didn’t think so.”

“Gotta love the sass.” Commander Lance mused, smirking at the look Commander Keith shot him; they both knew that Katie’s sass was on the same page as the red lion pilot’s attitude.

“I’d love it more if we weren’t in such a bad predicament.” Princess Allura stated. “Not only are most of our guests compromised, but so are two of our own. Pidge and Chip were with Shiro.”

“So what do we do?” Sergeant Hunk inquired. “We have to get them back. And find a way to reverse the Haggarium affecting them. Is that even possible? Oh snap…”

“I mean, Ulaz did help Sven.” Vince pointed out. “And when the Baltons were turned into zombies, it was reversed.”

“Zombies?” Regris asked.

“Primarily Earth pop culture, but there are various legends around the world talking about the living dead.” Katie informed. “I’ll explain more another time when we’re not dealing with the others being compromised.”

“Living dead? That helps for now. Galra have stories like that, too.” Regris stated. “I didn’t sleep for a movement the time Antok told me one…”

“Wait… the Galra have zombie stories?” Daniel asked.

“Another time, Danny boy.” Commander Lance stated, keeping Daniel and Regris from getting into that conversation. “We’ve got compromised friends filled with Haggarium.”

“If they can be subdued and brought back here, I think it’s possible for me to reverse it.” Ulaz informed. “I’ve been researching enough about Haggarium and my understanding of Quintessence overexposure, too, it’s not impossible. If anything, it’d be easier and quicker than treating Sven.”

“So we’ve got that. Good.” Commander Keith nodded. “But subduing the others…”

“Yeah…” Sergeant Hunk rubbed the back of his head. “I felt bad enough fighting the Baltons when they were infected, but that was needed. Fighting these guys, including Pidge and Chip? I’m just… and my little mini me…”

“It’s easier said than done.” Commander Lance admitted.

“I can do that.” Katie raised her hand.

“Uh…” Commander Lance wasn’t sure. “No offense, kid, but I get it. You can fight. You have a semi-ninja lizard boyfriend and a teleporting wolf. But these are your fellow pilots. And your brothers. And your princess. No to mention two ninjas. Skill aside, just going and fighting the others with our bonds and such…”

“Not my first time fighting my team and one of my brothers outside of the training deck.” Cue the awkward silence as they continued to stare at the green paladin. “Look, if I had a nickel for every time my team was mind controlled and I had to fight them, I would have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.”

“This has happened before?!” Commander Lance exclaimed. “Your team has been compromised before?!”

“Yeah, it was before we met Regris and Ulaz and before finding Matt.” Katie informed. “We were on this mission for a Yalexian pearl and got to this pyramid to question a galactic traveling Sphynx who was testing my mind and body and then the team and Chip was mind controlled by these mushrooms and I had to fight them to defend myself and pass the first test.”

“Wait… that really happened?” Regris looked down, his mask hiding the shock on his face.

“You didn’t believe me?”

“I never doubt you can hold your own in a fight, but the mind controlling thing?”

“We deal with weird stuff all the time. How did you not believe that?”

“Earthlings have weird sayings and stories, I don’t know what’s true anymore.”

“Hmm. Fair point.”

“Okay, kid, how did you do it?” Commander Lance asked. “How did you subdue them?”

“By exploiting their weaknesses.” Katie didn’t even hesitate to say that. “I mean, mostly physical weaknesses. A part of the mentality would still be there, but not enough to hit them psychologically. So, you’d need to hit them physically where they’re weaker. And, well, I kinda keep tabs on them. All of them. Even everyone else in the castle.”

“Dude! You just exploit their weaknesses like that?” Sergeant Hunk asked. “That’s messed up!”

“Having that knowledge is dangerous, Pidge.” Commander Keith stated. “If someone gets the data you keep-”

“It’s not in a computer.” Katie tapped the side of her head. “It’s all up here. Matt always told me that the greatest computer is our minds. He also told me that that can’t be hacked but… that may not be as accurate anymore. But I keep it tight in my brain. Not to be conceited, but I feel like if Maahox did succeed getting into my mind, I doubt he’d get anything useful or know how to translate it. But… uh. Yeah. I can exploit the weaknesses of my teammates. And Haggarium infected shouldn’t change that much. Though Pidge and the other Chip may be a little trickier… I’ve not trained against them.”

“They’re ninjas.” Larmina informed. “Ninjas don’t exactly have weaknesses.”

“You’d be surprised. And if not? Well, electrocuting others to knock them down a bit often works.” Katie hummed.

“Dude, just how many levels of mean are you?” Sergeant Hunk asked.

“Several. It’s the Gunderson charm.” Katie responded.

“Actually,” Daniel spoke up, “I think Pidge and Chip do have a physical weakness.”

“What do you mean?” Commander Keith was a little worried that Daniel of all people, one of their cadets, would know of a weakness of Pidge’s.

“Light.” Daniel stated, confusing the others. “When we were on Balto, it was pretty dark, even with the lights. And no nearby sun that would provide a natural day/night cycle. And Pidge and Chip both wear tinted glasses and while prescription, I don’t think the tint is a fashion statement. I think it’s because they’re sensitive to bright light. Flash them with enough bright light or even remove their glasses to flash them, I think it’d be enough to throw them off to subdue them. I might be able to speed past with my voltcom to remove them. And Hunk can probably hug them into submission or something. No fighting those two and feeling bad then.”

The pilots looked to each other, unsure of things. Daniel having this information was not good. But it was there in his brain, there wasn’t much they could do about it, especially since they don’t have a memory erasing device.

“Okay, Daniel, never get captured with that information.” Commander Lance ordered. “And NEVER use it on Pidge to get around him.”

“Look, I respect you guys too much to exploit Pidge like that on a daily basis. So we’re good there.” Daniel assured.

“Man, I never would’ve guessed.” Sergeant Hunk admitted, feeling a bit bad at not knowing the twins well enough for that. “I guess it makes sense since they work well in dark settings.”

“But that still leaves the others.” Larmina said.

“Well, Chip and Allura are going to be the hardest.” Katie informed. “Allura’s got strength and changing her size on her side. Plus, she’s versatile with weapons, though she’s probably using a staff so she’ll most likely be close combat. But if you can distract her enough, someone can hopefully get around her and take her down from behind. Chip, though, he’s a Gunderson. He’s skilled with guns. He’s also not opposed to going sniper. And who knows what guns he’ll get a hold of on planet Doom if he doesn’t have his with him already. But if you can find him and grab him, he’s actually not as physically strong as me, so it’s easy to restrain and hold him down typically.”

“Next you have Lance and Hunk. Both are also gun users. Lance is an excellent shot and getting better with time according to Chip. He’s got a habit of picking at engaged targets, so it’s best to have someone have your back. And without another sniper on our side, that’s trickier. But not impossible. If he’s focused on a target, his guard is down. That’s assuming he won’t try for a sniper position, because, like I said, he is getting better. As for Hunk, while long range, he’s not as good of a shot typically. However, he also can be close range and use his strength to his advantage. But it is easy to get close, personal, and use his size against him and throw him off balance. I think Larmina or Daniel could easily do that with minimal harm and great results.”

“Then there’s Keith. He’s a skilled fighter and an amazing training partner. But he’s brash. And has claws. But that brashness makes him unaware of his surroundings, though he’ll be observant enough to see if someone is sneaking on him. Use the surroundings and construction stuff to your advantage to knock him down and out.”

“I’d be the worst to fight him.” Regris interjected. “We trained enough together, he knows to watch out for my tail, so fighting him, it’s not much of an advantage.”

“And then we have Shiro and Matt. Now, Matt’s also a Gunderson, but he has less shooting to him. However, he does well with close combat and using his staff; he’s also physically stronger than Chip. He’s also got a prosthetic left leg. Knock that offline or damage it enough, he won’t be able to fight. And Shiro, well, mind controlled, you can’t use his PTSD against him. And his prosthetic arm is his weapon. And while he’s skilled and has strength, you can stop him for a bit by hacking into his arm and make it malfunction. Then hit him hard enough to knock him out. I used an uppercut last time.”

“Wait… you hack his arm?” Ulaz looked over to Katie. “That’s Galra tech! And some of my finest work. It shouldn’t be so easy to just hack.”

“Well, it is for me.” Katie responded.

“Remind me to upgrade it and make it Pidge-proof later…” The Galran actually looked a bit like he was pouting; had the situation not been serious and they were a plan away from kicking paladin butt, Commander Lance and Sergeant Hunk would have pointed it out and teased the Blade.

“Okay, so we have a basic start to how to take down the others and bring them back for Ulaz to treat.” Commander Keith spoke up. “But that still leaves the lions. Even yours got infected with Haggarium. And I don’t think this is like fixing a lion’s nexus.”

“Nexus?” Katie asked. She then waved it off. “Never mind that. But I think I have another idea. And it’s gonna take some Vincergy to handle it. And see if Green will let him pilot her.”

“Wait… what? Me?” Vince asked, looking shocked. “Okay, Green doesn’t like me. I’m not her pilot. I already hurt her once. And when I apologized, she may have let me in but she made it clear that I wouldn’t be flying her.”

“Well, let’s start with seeing if you can heal her and then ask her nicely.” Katie hummed as she walked off in one direction; Regris grabbed her by her overalls strap and pulled her to redirect her. “Right. Thanks.”

“Happy to help.” Regris responded, taking to follow his teammate and friend.

Chapter Text

“I have some concerns.” Vince held onto the controls of Green, actually piloting her. He was able to heal the lion and cleanse her of the Haggarium that got into her system. And Katie convinced her to let him pilot her. It was not what he planned and expected, but Katie was getting it to work somehow, especially as she left him alone in the cockpit so she could join the others in the hold, ready to drop out onto planet Doom and fight their compromised friends.

“C’mon, Vince, you got this.” Princess Allura assured over the comms. “You were able to handle things on Poseidus well, this should be easier.”

“Easier?!” Vince exclaimed. “You’re not the one piloting a different lion after having a falling out and then flying to a hostile planet with only one lion!”

And that was part of Katie’s plan. With Vince in Green, the other lions of that reality had no one to help bolster them against Haggarium. On top of that, Lotor would probably expect the whole pride. Vince was shown how to work with the cloaking and he already knew the vine cannon, so he had stealth on his side.

“Vince, breathe.” Katie instructed. “C’mon, buddy. Gotta breathe. Look, if we make ourselves known on the ground first, Lotor’s probably gonna send the others after us. The lions will be left unattended.”

“And if they’re not?”

Katie nudged Kosmo, prompting him to teleport her back to the cockpit, startling Vince a bit. “Then breathe and try to sneak around them to take them down from behind. Utilize that cloaking where possible if they engage in combat.” She patted the other teen’s shoulder. “You got this.”

Vince nodded. “Y-yeah. Okay.”

“Good. Now, get ready. Feels like we’re almost to planet Doom.” Katie felt for Kosmo’s fur, prompting the wolf to teleport her back to the hold to join the others.

“Wait, wha- how…” Vince looked back when Katie was already gone. She could tell that much without even being in the pilot’s seat? The green paladin truly was impressive. He then paid attention to his surroundings, getting Green cloaked as he started in for planet Doom. “Okay, we’re uh…. We’re at Doom. Are we really sure about this plan?”

“Well, it’s our only plan and it’s a bit late to come up with something new.” Commander Keith admitted. “But we got this. And so do you, Vince.”

“R-right.” Vince nodded. “Okay, here goes.” He activated the cargo hatch, causing it to open for the others.

“So, who wants to go first?” Commander Lance asked.

“Ladies first!” Katie said towards the end of his statement, jumping out without Kosmo to teleport her.

“Well, it’s a good thing Haxus isn’t here to yell at her for jumping like that.” Ulaz commented as Kosmo teleported out to get his girl. He then jumped out, closely followed by Regris.

“Man, these guys from the other reality really just go right for it, huh?” Sergeant Hunk asked, chuckling a bit.

“But they’ve got the right idea.” Princess Allura stated, jumping out after the others. It didn’t take long for the others to follow suit, finding themselves just near the construction site of the castle.

“Alright, everyone keep an eye out.” Commander Keith stated. “We don’t know whe-”

“Um… Keith?” Daniel asked.

“What?”

“Katie can’t?”

“…”

“Yeah, I won’t bother with the attitude this time, so…” Katie shrugged, though no one could miss that cheeky smirk playing on her face. She then listened around, trying to hear her surroundings. She could hear Vince taking Green off to find the other lions to help them, so she tried to hear any soldiers or her own team.

Tck!

Katie tipped her head in one direction. “Incoming.”

“Huh, where fr-” Commander Lance started to say before getting a foot to the face and finding himself down flat on his back. He barely made out the blur as a ninja clad in the green and black pilot uniform jumped away and off to the side. Pidge.

While the Voltron Force members, cadets and pilots alike, stared in shock, both for how quick Pidge moved and in finding that he was truly compromised, Pidge readied himself for the next strike. He then went at Sergeant Hunk next, the tech sergeant activating his weapon and trying to block Pidge’s quick attacks.

“Pigeon! Buddy! C’mon, it’s me! Hunk!” the pilot called out, hoping his words would reach his best friend. But no dice. Pidge just kept on attacking, even activating his smart stars and throwing one at him, causing a small cut along his cheek.

“Okay, uh, this was good in theory, but we can’t just fight Pidge!” Daniel exclaimed. “It feels wrong. We’re close, like a family or something.”

“Then leave it to me.” Ulaz managed to grab hold of the ninja pilot and spin around, chucking him to the side and into some scaffolding, causing it to come crumbling down on him.

“Shit! Pidge!” Commander Lance called as he sat up.

“I’m sure he’s fine.” Katie stated.

“HE JUST GOT HIT WITH SCAFFOLDING!” Commander Lance snapped.

“Actually, I think the scaffolding got hit with him.” Katie hummed, missing the middle finger the red coded commander sent her way.

“Right now,” Ulaz spoke up, quickly getting Commander Lance’s attention, “you need to worry less about the well being of the others; they’ll recover. What we need to focus on is taking them down before things get worse.”

“Easy for you to say!” Commander Lance got a bit snippy.

“We got more company!” Katie announced just as the next ninja and ninja-like people showed up. Sergeant Chip and Keith. Quick, agile, and ready to fight. And Ulaz wasted no time in moving to intercept. All the while, Pidge got out of the scaffolding, a little banged up and scraped but otherwise fine. He went to attack next, aiming for his own princess, but hearing him, Katie got in his way. “And Ulaz is right, worry about their health less. Because the longer this goes on, the worse things could get for them. Or us. We need to take them down fast.”

“Looks like the others are catching up.” Regris pointed out, seeing some of the paladins run in. “And some aren’t here; be on the look out, our Lance and Chip might be in sniper positions.”

“Great, too sharpshooters.” Katie sighed before moving her staff and smacking Pidge in the crotch. “But hey, we had these anticipations, so let’s go with it.”

“Huh?” Commander Keith went and blocked Matt when the rebel went in for an attack. “Where’s Shiro?”

-+-+-+-

“Right, go off and find the other lions and heal them with my energy through Green. Genius plan.” Vince grumbled. “I mean, yeah, that part is good. But the go off on my own?!” He turned slowly to look when he heard a beep. Rover. “Uh….” Rover let out a soft melodic tone. “Look, I get it, you’re here, but it’s not like I can understand you, not like the other Pidge. I don’t speak whatever language you two share. And you’re not exactly going to be able to provide much help, either.”

Seeming to comfort him, Rover let out a small, gentle beep and even seemed to nuzzle his cheek like a strange, triangular, robotic puppy. That interaction couldn’t help but make Vince smile.

“Well, I guess this is better than the mice seeming to be bored with my problems when I vented to them.” Vince stated. “But, like, who else can I vent to? Daniel’s kinda jealous, Larmina gets a bit moody with her own auntie issues, it’s not my fault I have this energy power and it’s given me this position on the team. What am I supposed to do? Just bottle it up? Easier said than done. Now that it’s there, it’s like trying to put a lid on some cola after dropping a bunch of Mentos in the bottle. It isn’t gonna go well.”

Rover let out a beep and tipped back and forth, seeming to nod in agreement. Seeing that, Vince smiled more.

“Okay, so maybe you are some help. Just not the help I expected.” Vince stated. “And getting that off my chest, I guess I feel a bit better, too. And though this is kinda nerve wracking, I’m glad I can do more to help out the team. I’m not exactly confrontational except for in video games and simulators. You know?” Rover nodded again. “I’m not like Daniel or Larmina, ready to jump into battle. Or even your Pidge. She’s like this total badass! Ready to fight and pilot all while blind?” He sighed. “You know, Daniel may be a bit jealous of some things and Larmina grumbles about me accepting this destiny thing? But I guess I’m the jealous one… Jealous of them, jealous of your paladins, jealous of Pidge, both of them. They’re like a pair of nerds who can kick butt. But me…”

Rover let out a melodic tune before nuzzling Vince again. Having this interaction, the cadet really did find the drone to be helpful.

“Thanks. I don’t know what you said, but I guess it’s you comforting me.” he said. “Thanks, buddy.” He actually patted Rover, making the drone beep with joy. “Now then, we need to find where Lotor and Maahox hid those lions.”

Rover made a tune similar to what Vince would call a dial up tone, seeming to contemplate something. At a much more eager beep, he pushed into Vince’s hand on the controls, prompting him to steer in another direction.

“Huh? You think they’re this way?” Vince inquired. He got turned and found the lions in another area, not yet brought into a hangar. “Hey! They are there! Thanks, Rover!” Yup, the drone definitely did prove to be super helpful. “Okay, now, let’s activate the vine cannon and give this a go. Let’s see if this works and we can get you lions healed up.”

Vince undid the cloaking so he could get the vine cannon going; he then went to channeling his energy into the lion more. He felt a strange sensation, stranger than when he had first made the red lion of his reality the center, nudge him back, but it wasn’t resistant. He swore he heard a purr of sorts in the back of his mind. Was it Green? Was she approving of him using his power and having her channel it? Well, he hoped that was it.

He then fired off the cannon, taking a few seconds between each shot to hit the lions and cover them in vines, the plant material growing forming odd, blue flowers, different from when Katie used the cannon on Crydor against the robeast. Was that his doing? Was it sign of his energy?

He hoped that was the case.

Before he could check if Katie’s idea with his power was working, he prepped for the fourth shot.

And then he saw it.

The black lion got up. Was it upset? Did it not want to be healed? Something told him that wasn’t case.

“Oh snart… Shiro’s piloting it, isn’t he?” Vince inquired, chuckling a bit nervously. “Uh… what did Pidge say is the way to defeat him?”

Chapter Text

“Pidgey, you okay?” Commander Lance asked as he did his best to hold down Allura so Commander Keith could bind her hands with duct tape. As grateful as he was that Katie somehow had four and a half rolls of tape in her pouches, which she wore with her uniform as they were practical, he was rightfully concerned. A moment ago she got squashed when she jumped like a lemur and clung to her princess’ back. It was fine until Allura decided to fall back and crush her while being at least two times her regular size. After that, though, Katie had gone off to the side, sounding like she was coughing up a lung.

“I think Ulaz was a little right…” Katie mumbled.

“What do you mean?” Commander Keith finished binding the Altean princess.

“My stomach feels better. But I still feel gross because getting sick sucks.”

“Oooh.” The two commanders didn’t need much more to figure out what that coughing was about. Perhaps taking Katie into a fight wasn’t the best, and not because she was blind. For a moment, they actually forgot that she wasn’t feeling well due to overindulgence. Well, at least she got it out of her system.

“Well, I’d suggest taking a break,” Princess Allura stated, trying to tag team Matt with Larmina, “but we’re kind of still in the heat of battle. And we still don’t know where your Chip and Lance are.”

“Probably places hidden but with good line of sight on us to snipe us.” Katie admitted. She then heard a shot ring out and felt Regris nearly tackle her to make sure she was okay. “Oh, speak of the devils.”

“Great, as if this wasn’t tricky enough already.” Commander Lance commented. “Pidge, please tell me you can nerd it out and figure out where that shot came from?”

“Maybe if I wasn’t hearing the fighting and they used regular Earth guns, but…” Katie tried to listen.

“Focus on sound, Pidge, we’ll focus on the rest here.” Commander Keith ordered.

“Did you not just hear me?” Katie asked. “There’s a lot going on! On top of that, my hearing isn’t advanced just because I’m blind! That shit’s a myth!”

“Well, this is our best option, though.” Regris said in a much calmer manner.

“You’ll be fine, kiddo; you’ve proven to do so much already, what’s one more thi-oof!” Commander Lance got smacked with Larmina when she was actually flung into him by the rebel.

“I’d flip him off if he weren’t so focused on the fight at hand.” Katie muttered. She then listened when she heard another shot. Well, at least with the fighting at hand, the two shooters weren’t just firing upon them without much thought; she could only guess that they were purposefully being careful so as to not shoot those who were compromised.

Then came a third shot and a shout. “Lance!” Princess Allura called, going over and checking on the commander. “Lance, are you okay?” She checked him while Larmina went to fend Matt off.

“Shit! I just got shot in the ass!” Commander Lance snapped.

Katie ran over to where she heard Lance, Regris right with her. She then dared to feel for the wound on his posterior.

“Hey, watch the groping kid, only one Pidge can do tha-AAH!” He felt the wound get touched.

“There. Okay… you’re like tall enough…” Katie stood up and figured out where Commander Lance’s butt would have been and thought about the angle. “Daniel! That direction.” She pointed up into an area. “We have one of the shooters there; judging by where Lance got shot, it’s my twin.”

“On it!” Daniel nodded. Sure, Kosmo could teleport, but he was just as useful with running off. And perhaps he could spot the next sniper with the vantage point. He then ran off to do that.

“Kosmo, I need you to teleport around with Lance, take him back to the green lion.” Katie ordered.

“I’m fine.” Commander Lance said. “Just gotta walk if o-AAAAH!” Katie actually used her staff to smack him in the rear. “WILL YOU STOP THAT?!”

“You’re in no condition to fight. Now go.” Before the commander could protest, Kosmo teleported, taking him away. Though down one member, no one could deny it was for the best.

“I believe he stuck up his middle finger at you before Kosmo took him.” Regris commented.

“That sounds accurate.” Katie stated. She then tapped her staff. “Now then, time to be a good little sister and kick my older brother’s sorry ass.” She then ran to where she could hear Larmina fighting Matt, trying to get that opening to take him out at his prosthetic leg.

-+-+-+-

“Whoa!” Vince jerked the green lion to the side, not quite getting away from the black lion’s strike with the jaw-blade, but at least getting the damage reduced. “Sorry, Green, but he’s really not making this easy. And he’s not exactly giving me an opening to fire the cannon.”

Vince tried to recall how to handle Shiro. Surely Katie said something, right? She had something to say about every person. Hack the arm? Was that what she did before? But he couldn’t really hack it from there. And apparently it was supposed to be difficult to do so according to Ulaz. And it wasn’t like he could just teleport into the black lion to try to tackle Shiro and interface with that arm with his power.

And speaking of teleporting, Kosmo appeared next to Vince with Commander in Lance in tow, startling the cadet and making him scream in a shrill tone.

“HOLY SNART WHAT THE HELL?!” Vince exclaimed, letting go of Green’s controls. “Lance?! What are you doing here?!”

“Being sidelined apparently.” Commander Lance nearly snarled. “I got shot in the ass!”

“Um…” Vince blinked, a bit surprised by that comment. He then grunted when Green was tackled by Black, jostling those inside. “Uh, we got a problem, so…”

“Huh?” Commander Lance looked out to see who they were against. “That would explain where Shiro was.” He got up, though it stung, and held onto the back of the seat.

“Yeah, and he’s not making this easy. I can’t get a clear shot, I can’t stop him, and I’m blanking on all the ways to stop him.” Vince explained.

“Okay, dude, chill out.” the commander said “You gotta calm down.”

“HOW CAN I CALM DOWN?!” Vince exclaimed. “This isn’t like when we were on Poseidous. This isn’t like anything we’ve dealt with? I am literally piloting a lion I know next to nothing about and trying to fuse my power with it to take down another lion that is much bigger and wrecking me! There is nothing in this situation that is in the least bit calming an-” He stopped when Kosmo jumped up and licked his cheek. “No! Down! Bad dog! No kisses! I’m trying to fight the other lion!”

Panic quickly subsided for a moment while Kosmo distracted Vince a bit. Commander Lance was ready to tell the wolf off, then he realized what he needed to do instead. “Okay, Vince, wrong words, right. You need to try and breathe, okay? I get it, it’s stressful, but you got this. You handled that Drule ship on Poseidous, you can handle this, too.” the commander instructed. He nodded when Kosmo got back down. “Now, what does this lion do?”

“It has a vine cannon, but I can’t get a clear shot in these close quarters.” Vince explained. He took the controls again and managed to jostle Green enough to get Black off of her. “And I think that jaw-blade? But I’m figuring out how to activate that… and uh…” He blinked. “Oh yeah! The cloaking!”

In his stress, Vince momentarily forgot about that; that seemed understandable. He got the green lion to go invisible, but that caused the vine cannon to disappear. Okay, so he had to keep that in mind.

“We’re in standard attacks now with it, though.” He said.

“Okay, you got this.” Commander Lance assured. “Hey, wolf, you think you can teleport in there and bite Shiro instead?” Kosmo grumbled a bit before actually trying. He sparked and phased a bit, but he didn’t teleport, causing him to whimper. “Must be the haggarium in there then.”

“That’s a problem…” Vince mumbled.

“But not the end of the world.” Commander Lance stated. “Okay, you’re invisible. You need to try and catch him by surprise. Attack, back off, keep invisibility. If it goes out, back off and cloak yourself again.” The senior pilot there flashed him a reassuring grin. “C’mon. You’re quick witted, even working with the sims and lions differently and finding a way to best the other cadets when training. You can do this. Hell, you even know how to use cheap playground tricks, so go that route if you get the chance.”

“Y-yeah.” Vince nodded. Having someone with him to help him logic things out was definitely a weight off of the cadet’s shoulders. Sure, he knew one day he’d have to do these things thoroughly on his own, at least to some degree. But for now? He was pleased to have Commander Lance supporting him.

Vince made Green lunge at Black while cloaked, going in to scrape along its back a bit before rounding back, running at the legs to trip up the larger lion. He had hoped this planning would work and Shiro would struggle to keep up with the other being cloaked.

Shiro, though, proved to be skilled. He wasn’t the leader of Voltron for nothing as he could figure out where Vince was, swiping at him and knocking him to the side.

That didn’t stop the cadet. He kept at it with Commander Lance encouraging him and even giving suggestions. While most would complain about back seat driving, the fiery commander included, Vince did appreciate it quite a bit. And he did eventually find his footing in the matter, piloting Green with precision and skill he didn’t even have when he first controlled her after Katie was captured.

This had to have been Green accepting him more.

Vince hit Black again, going for tackling the other lion to the ground before jumping off. He got up on one of the building sections, crushing it more under Green’s bulk. With that, he undid the cloaking to bring out the vine cannon.

“Right, time to see if this works!” Vince shot the cannon a couple times, hitting Black head on and forcing the vines to grow around the lion. At first Black tried to move and roar at him, but the movements grew stiff before ceasing completely. “D-did it work?”

Commander Lance stared for a moment before the lights on Black returned to normal. “Hell yeah, Vince! I think they did!”

“Yes!” Vince cheered. He then looked when a screen came up and Shiro was in view, the paladin grumbling and holding his head. “Shiro! You okay?”

“Hey, man, how you feeling?” Commander Lance asked.

“Like the time Adam and I graduated the flight academy and I woke up with the worst ever hangover and that bastard had the gall to be fine and drinking coffee despite having more celebratory booze than me…” Shiro grumbled. “What’d I miss?”

“A lot.” Vince stated. “But take it easy and we’ll be done soon and get you back to Arus for treatment.”

Chapter Text

“Snipers are down!” Daniel reported, standing over where Lance was, incapacitated and duct taped up, much like Chip in another location.

“Good work, Daniel.” Commander Keith praised. “Now to get them down here and together to make it easier to get back to the green lion.”

“We’re doing well in taking down these guys,” Larmina stated, “but we’re not done yet. And the Drule Keith is making things difficult. Just what training did he have?”

“The Blade of Marmora doesn’t believe in leaving our agents, no matter the age, untrained and unprotected.” Ulaz informed. “And Regris’ and my abilities against him won’t be that good since he’s trained with both of us. A lot.”

“Great…” Larmina groaned.

“Hmm…” Katie thought it over before perking up. “I’ve got an idea.” She tipped her head towards where she heard Larmina. “Think you’re up to jumping in and keeping him occupied? Allura and Keith are occupied with the twins and Hunk’s down an arm.”

“It’s just a sprain.” Sergeant Hunk stated, hissing a bit when Ulaz finished stabilizing it.

“Still injured. And you, Larmina, do have good skills.”

“Yeah.” Larmina nodded before getting out from the covered area to go after Keith, keeping him occupied.

“And you, with me.” Katie grabbed Regris by the arm and dragged him around while Keith was focused on Larmina.

“What are you even planning?” Regris asked, keeping with Katie just fine.

“This.” Katie found her spot where she could hear Keith fighting Larmina. She then turned and grabbed her tailed friend and actually picked him up, showing her questionable and alarming strength as she held the half-Galran over her head.

“Not again!” Regris shouted as he was actually thrown at Keith, Larmina jumping out of the way so she didn’t get knocked over as one Blade actually tackled the other. The tailed Blade was grateful, he was finally able to catch Keith off guard, but that was not how he expected it to go. He sat up, straddling his friend, and gave a swift punch to the head, actually knocking him out. “Pidge! Did you really have to do it that way?”

“It was all I could think of at the moment!” Katie exclaimed. She then went over to him, handing him tape to use on Keith. “It’s not like I could really MacGyver this shit in this situation to stop him.”

“True…” Regris blinked behind his mask.

“Dude!” Daniel sped in with Lance over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Did she really just throw Regris?”

“That kid is definitely strong… that’s… that’s kinda scary…” Sergeant Hunk admitted.

“That’s the green paladin for you.” Ulaz hummed.

“And done!” Commander Keith called as he and Princess Allura finished fighting the ninja twins, quickly binding them with tape. He sat up and looked around. All was clear. The others were taken down. It pained him to know they had to fight their allies, but it was for the best and aside from a sprained wrist for Sergeant Hunk and Commander Lance being shot in the rear, no one seemed too horribly beat up. Though there were bound to be concussions for those they knocked out.

“Looks like we’re clear.” Princess Allura nodded. “Vince, what’s yours and Lance’s status?”

“Uh, we’re finding padding to stop Lance’s bleeding.” Vince reported. “And Shiro’s kind of hungover from this. The lions are healed so I had Kosmo bring Shiro to Green so I can keep an eye on him.”

“Well, first chance you get, we need you to-whoa!” The princess picked up Pidge while Commander Keith grabbed Sergeant Chip, the two jumping in opposite directions to get away from someone who came crashing down.

Lotor.

Bulked up on Haggarium and much bigger than average.

“Of course Maahox’s plan failed.” Lotor stated. “But I’ll be sure to correct his mistakes.”

“Shit.” Commander Keith grumbled. He then tried to activate his voltcom. Right. Without Vince there to neutralize the Haggarium in the area, their voltcoms didn’t work. They had no weapons.

Except for a handful of them there. “Regris, yeet!” Katie quickly said. Regris wasted no time in getting up and grabbing her, actually chucking her fastball special style at the Drule king, the petite paladin smacking into him and zapping him with her staff.

Lotor tried to rip her off, but that tiny teen had an unexpected strength. While Lotor grappled with Katie, trying to pry her off, Larmina went in for an attack, but not before grabbing Matt’s staff that was dropped earlier. She may not be able to use her voltcom, but she knew staffs and his was perfect.

By the time the Drule king could remove Katie, Larmina went in to attack, surprising him. Instead of throwing the paladin, like he planned, he simply dropped her to try and fight Larmina off. Dropping the paladin instead was his downfall, though, as Katie got back up and coordinated with the cadet, the two working as a perfect team to attack their enemy.

“Hunk, the scaffolding.” Ulaz hissed, getting the sergeant’s attention. “Think you can help?”

“Heck yeah.” Sergeant Hunk nodded.

Sergeant Hunk and Ulaz went around the fight and got into position. Larmina noticed them and quickly caught onto their plan. Nodding, she worked with Katie to push Lotor further back before yanking the paladin back. Using their combined strength, the sergeant and the medic managed to knock the scaffolding down to come crashing upon Lotor.

“Well that worked.” Katie grinned.

“Nice teamwork, guys.” Commander Keith praised. “Vince, do you copy? We could use a pick-up.”

“Yeah, okay.” Vince confirmed. “But what about the other lions?”

“We’ll figure it out in a bit, but we need to get off the ground ASAP.” the commander reminded.

Vince nodded and flew the lion back to where the others. He wondered about landing, but Kosmo was ahead of him in going back and forth, teleporting others from the ground and back into the lion’s hold.

After Katie was brought back, Vince got up when she entered the cockpit, letting her have her seat back. “Okay, your turn to pilot Green. This was enough excitement for me for one day.” Shortly behind her was Daniel, Larmina, and Regris, leaving the others to tend to those injured and unconscious.

“Hah! Should’ve heard our excitement.” Katie laughed as she took her spot.

“Should’ve seen it!” Daniel stated. “This Pidge totally picked up Regris and just threw him at the other Keith. Then he picked her up and launched her at Lotor!” He was grinning, clearly excited by that moment.

“You think Matt would mind if I kept this staff?” Larmina hummed. “It’s got good balance. And is practical.” She looked to Katie. “You know, for when Haggarium screws up our voltcoms?”

“Might need to ask him.” Katie chuckled. She then took off, ready to head back to where the other lions should have been. However, even without being piloted, they got up on their own, flying after to join her.

“Whoa, the lions are following us?” Vince exclaimed. “I thought it was just our lions who do this. And with just Black. But they’re following Green?”

“Guess they have a feeling that it’s time to go home and they’re feeling better.” Katie hummed. She smiled, feeling Green purr in the back of her mind. “We knew you could do it, Vince.” Vince smiled, grateful for the show of confidence. “Now then, let’s head back to Arus. I think I’m well enough to finally eat one of my cookies. Assuming Bae Bae didn’t find a way to get the rest and chow down on them herself.”

-+-+-+-

“I am so sorry.” Chip sighed, looking utterly defeated. “Shooting you like that… if it’s any consolation, I’m not the first Gunderson to shoot an ally in the butt.”

“That’s concerning.” Commander Lance stated, holding an ice pack to his sore behind.

“There’s a story that Mom did the same thing to an ally. The situation apparently called for it, but…” Matt shrugged his shoulders. He then groaned, absolutely miserable. “It’s official. I hate Haggarium.”

“Yeah, welcome to our lives. We deal with it on a near constant basis.” Sergeant Hunk chuckled as Princess Allura adjusted the sling so his arm could rest. “Thanks, Princess.”

“Of course.” the Arusian princess nodded. “Anything to help.” She then looked to Ulaz as he checked on some data. “How are things, Ulaz?”

Thankfully the damage with the haggarium was reversible in them, and relatively easily.” Ulaz stated. “With Shiro in the black lion at the time, most of it was knocked out of him so his treatment was even more effortless.” He offered Vince a smile. “You did well out there.”

Vicne smiled sheepishly. He knew what he did was important and helped a lot, but the praise and recognition he kept getting was a bit much.

“And let’s not forget this pipsqueak.” Sergeant Hunk chuckled, going over and ruffling Katie’s hair, making her grin. “She really gave us an idea on how to take down some of you guys. Though sorry about that, too.”

“Man, exploited by her again.” Lance grumbled. “PIDGE! Stop exploiting our weaknesses! It’s rude and messed up!”

“Yeah, but twice now it’s helped out.” Keith reminded. “And this time it was even more serious.” He crossed his arms and nodded as he thought it over. “It’s definitely useful and pulled through. Good on you, Pidge.”

“I’m glad it still was effective even with you guys all Haggarium’d up.” Katie hummed as she munched on a cookie.

“And not only that, you wasted no time having Regris throw you at Lotor.” Sergeant Hunk grinned. “Man! He must’ve been so shocked! Then Larmina jumping in. You two just straight up went badass on him!”

“Yeah! Us staff buddies got it made.” Larmina put her hand up. “Five up high!”

“Umm…” Katie blinked.

“She means high five.” Daniel explained, sure that the phrasing was lost on the other teen.

“I got the idea but…” Katie put her hand up and felt for where Larmina’s hand was.

“Oh right… blind…” Daniel and Larmina said in unison.

“Dude! How do you forget she’s blind so quickly?” Commander Lance asked.

“No, no, that’s normal.” Hunk waved it off. “It’s easy to forget.”

“We constantly forget, too.” Lance sighed. “Especially when traversing in darkness and we stumble but Pidgey’s fine…”

“Anyway,” Katie said, going over to where Kosmo was, hearing his breathing and knowing Pidge and Sergeant Chip were both leaning against him, “how was the reality gate test?” She sat down with them, offering the duo some of her cookies.

“Oh snart, these are amazing.” Sergeant Chip grabbed a couple more, shoving a whole one into his mouth.

“It went well.” Pidge informed. He ate a cookie and let out a blissful hum. “Ooh! I don’t want to let you go now, though! Stay here and bake more, please?”

Katie laughed. “I can make more before I leave and have Hunk write the recipe.” she said. “But I do have to go back.”

“Yeah.” Shiro nodded. “The others are getting worried and the universe still needs us.”

“Well, you should all rest tonight.” Commander Keith said. “Then we can get you home tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Vince asked.

“It’ll take them a bit to get that generator running so the wormholer can function.” Chip reminded. “We’ve got time. Plus, you guys didn’t get to explore Balto when you were here before, right? And Hunk, Lance, Keith, and Regris hadn’t had the chance, so this seems to work.”

“Yeah, we were dealing with zombies last time we were here.” Daniel stated, patting Vince’s back as his friend shuddered.

“It was straight out of a horror movie… and we were following every single movie trope, too! It was not going well.” Vince lamented.

“Well, no zombies around,” Lance put his arm around the cadet’s shoulders, “it’s just us, a bunch of teens, out on the town before this tragic but necessary farewell.” He then pointed forward. “So let’s hit the town! Have teen time out without the adults pulling rank on us!”

“Hell yeah!” Daniel did a fist pump to the air to show his enthusiasm. It was good to go out and feel like a kid and just have fun. Perhaps even this time he and the others wouldn’t have to deal with a rather toxic fan boy with questionable fanfictions.

“It is kinda cool going out and just being a teen.” Larmina hummed, looking around at the shops they saw. “I’m still a bit behind on that, so you guys better step up and make it fun.”

“Behind?” Hunk asked. “How can you be behind on being a teen?”

“Well… uh… you know… private tutors, personal chefs, body guards… royal stuff kinda keeping me what others my age would experience…” Larmina admitted, a little embarrassed. “And, you know, last time we were here, we saw the mall but couldn’t exactly shop…”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Lance moved to Larmina, linking arms with her. “Because every teen experience deserves a mall trip. The shops, the arcades, unhealthy junk at the food court.”

“You good for a mall?” Chip asked his sister.

“I should be fine.” Katie nodded. “I got Kosmo and Bae Bae, and Regris is here, too, to keep me in line.” At her comment, the tailed Blade, every bit a teen like the others and thus joining them, patted the green paladin’s head, silently showing that he was there for her.

“Hey, I’m here, too.” Keith reminded, his ears twitching.

“Dude, you’re like a brother to me.” Katie stated. “The only brother I trust to keep me in line is Chip. You and Matt are hopeless.” She motioned to Chip when she mentioned him, or at least tried. Regris moved her hand a bit so she was pointing to him. “Thank you.”

“Um… is that…?” Larmina blinked.

“Typical sibling behaviour?” Lance asked. “Yup.”

“Pretty normal.” Chip chuckled.

“It’s a daily thing with siblings.” Hunk hummed.

“Even my family isn’t immune to that.” Vince stated. Daniel and Larmina looked to him. “What? I have an older brother. And his friends are like my older siblings. I know what it feels like.”

“Man, I feel like I’m missing out with the lack of siblings thing.” Larmina admitted.

“I’m not. Siblings sound like a hassle and I don’t think my mom could handle two of me.” Daniel laughed a bit.

“Yeah, our mom’s said the same thing about Pidge.” Chip teased, grinning when she smirked and flipped him off.

“Anyway! Let’s go! Unsupervised teen trip to the mall? What co-AAAAH!” Katie wasted no time pulling out her bayard, turning it into a staff, and swiping Lance right off his feet with it. “AAAAAH!” He cried out again when the green paladin gave him a shock for good measure.

“Never say that phrase around Pidge, man.” Hunk sighed. “She really hates it because it always jinxes us.”

“You’d think he’d learn that by now.” Chip shook his head in shame of his friend.

“Damn, this Pidge really woke up and chose violence.” Daniel mused. “Uh… you good, Lance?”

“Yup.” Lance gave a thumbs up. “I can handle anything.”

-+-+-+-

A mall. An average teen Earthling’s greatest joy. Even on alien planets and surrounded by other cultures, a mall was the perfect place and experience for many teens. And the teens of Voltron were more than pleased to go around, checking out shops, picking up a few things, and even playing games at the arcade, getting a little competitive, especially with one certain dance game that Daniel and Lance were both fans of.

“So this is a Balton food?” Regris asked as they were in the food court and having a snack, biting into a giant soft baked pretzel of salty goodness. “Mmm.”

“Well, maybe here, too?” Lance spoke up. “But for us, it’s definitely on Earth.”

“Same here.” Vince nodded in agreement, dipping his salt coated snack into some cheese dip. “Actually, I noticed a lot of parallels in this Balton mall with Earth malls.”

“Could be cultural blend, or Baltons are more like Earthlings than originally expected.” Keith informed. He then looked to Katie. “You’re getting sugar all over your hands.”

“Wear a blind fold and try eating hand-held food without any sort of mess.” Katie quipped back before biting into her cinnamon sugar pretzel with a smirk.

Keith looked to his hands. Fuzzy. He was covered in fur. “You know what, I think they have little packs of wet wipes at the counter, let me get you a couple.” he said, getting up to do just that.

“You know, I may miss this sass while you’re gone.” Daniel mused. “Your blind sass is a fresh twist on our Lance’s daily sass.” He then broke off some of his pretzel, feeding Kosmo and Bae Bae under the table.

“I heard that.” Katie chuckled.

“Maybe I won’t miss it as much.” Daniel laughed. “But I will miss these two.” He smiled at the dog and space wolf. In the time that the paladins and their friends were visiting, he came to love having the canines around. “If only I can keep them here.”

“Sorry, but they’re coming home with me.” Katie hummed.

“I wonder if I can get Keith and Lance to let me adopt a dog next time I go to Earth.” Daniel mused.

During their snack, the others chatted about various things that seemed typical to teens. Hanging out with such a large group and so casually, it felt amazing and fun for Larmina. Sure, she enjoyed one trip to Earth and getting to hang out with other teens, but they were strangers showing her around. This time, though, she was with friends and people she really found herself enjoying the company of, even Keith and Regris with being half-Galra.

After their snack, they returned to browsing the shops, even hitting clothing stores to pick up some outfits, something most of the visiting Earthlings really enjoyed so they could have more variety.

“C’mon, Pidgey, surely another outfit or two won’t hurt.” Lance suggested.

“I have this, my armour, and those Altean pajamas.” Katie stated. “I think I’m fine.”

“But don’t you wanna just dress in something different? Check yourself ou-” Lance stopped. “Nope. Nope. Don’t say it. I hear that smirk.”

“Hey, that’s the quickest you caught yourself.” Katie cheered. “You’re learning.”

“You know, I’ve been trying to understand it.” Daniel stated, getting the others’ attention. “Pidge, you can’t see. At all?”

“She is completely blind; she can’t even perceive light.” Chip informed.

“So you don’t even care about appearance, right? That’s how you act, so… And you seem comfortable with your current clothes.” Daniel said. “So what I’m trying to understand is why you wear glasses.”

“They’re Matt’s old pair after he got his vision corrected with surgery.” Katie informed. “But even before I used his old glasses, I’d commonly wear them. Partially to mess with people and letting them think I can see, partially because I like how they feel.”

“That’s valid.” Daniel nodded, finding that to be logical.

“Also, things still hurt when they get in my eyes. So, when working, they protect my eyes from dust or soot or oil that could hit my face.” Katie stated.

“Can’t argue with that logic.” Vince admitted. “It makes sense.”

Onto the next store, the group ended up finding squishy Moo Moo keychains. Though they didn’t exactly carry around keys, the group thought it would be cute and fun, sort of like friendship charms. They found Voltron Force Moo Moo charms, not too unlike the plushies won during the Pidge and family trip. The others decided to go with corresponding colours to their lions or team.

Daniel was torn between black and red. He wanted to pilot the black lion one day, it was his greatest dream and ambition. However, he was close with the Lance of his reality. And he didn’t want the Galran Keith to feel so alone being the only red coded one in their teen group. Smiling and even shocking Larmina and Vince a little, he picked the red coded Moo Moo squishy.

Larmina and Lance had blue. Keith and Daniel went with red. Chip and Hunk were the yellow team. Katie, Vince, and Regris were the green team. And Bae Bae and Kosmo? Well, they got a Voltron looking Moo Moo squishy to stick on Bae Bae’s collar, the bull terrier prancing around and showing it off to other patrons in the shop, the others, most being Baltons, just cooing over how cute she was with her Voltron tag.

“This was a fun away to spend the last day together.” Hunk smiled brightly. “Like, an ideal teen outing straight out of a movie.”

“So this is what normal teens do?” Larmina asked, clutching her shopping bag close with pride.

“Well… I guess?” Hunk asked. “I didn’t go out much. I didn’t have many friends growing up.” He motioned to Lance. “Until we got to the Garrison, it was only really Lance. Though we did have mall and arcade outings, too. Then we met Chip and he joined in.”

“It’s a wonder we didn’t get into trouble for constantly leaving to hit the city and hang out at the mall and arcade.” Chip mused.

“What about Galra?” Vince asked, looking to Regris and Keith.”

“I was born and raised in the Blade of Marmora; outings like this weren’t really a thing.” Regris admitted. “But I think some outside the Blades go out and have fun when they can. I heard tales from others that it was normal for corporals to have down time and have fun, though it’s less so that cadets go out because they’re more focused on training.”

“Yeah, that’s what Mom would tell me, too.” Keith nodded. “And I stood out like a sore thumb on Earth, so I was hidden away from others.” He smiled. “So it’s nice getting to do this and have this experience.” He playfully shoved Katie, earning an equally playful punch in the arm from her. “And we even apparently avoided her getting separated and lost from us.”

“Anyway,” Vince spoke up, “we should probably head back to the others. It’s probably almost time for us to part ways.”

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe it.” Matt declared, frustration on his face as he crossed his arms.

“I know! The audacity!” Commander Lance stated.

“They seriously did this!”

“The irresponsibility.”

“They went off to enjoy Balto without me?! The ultimate big brother?!”

“What?” Commander Lance looked to the rebel. “I think we fell off the same page…. What?!”

“The kids! They just went off without me! What if I wanted to join them? They didn’t even ask me!” Matt sighed. “This is just rude. To nix me out of a hangout like that. Why? Because I’m not a teenager? Is it a teen thing? Isn’t this prejudice against adults? Is that even allowed? It’s not my fault I was born before them.”

“Right, uh… just keep your mouth shut when we lecture the kids.” Commander Lance shook his head. Well, there went one adult to remind the kids that their behaviour was unacceptable, though deep down he did feel and empathize with the rebel feeling left out. However, he was a commander and had to act like it at times. “But seriously, just going off like that…”

“Try to cut them some slack.” Shiro chuckled. “They’re kids.”

“And they’re paladins or training to be pilots.” Commander Keith chimed in with his reminder. “We can’t keep allowing this behaviour. The insubordination is-”

“On a daily basis, I get it.” Shiro interrupted. “And had this been them running off while we’re still figuring things out and waiting at Arus, I would be in full agreement with you. But you gotta remember, these are kids. You can’t push them too hard.”

“Perhaps they could use some pushing.” Allura sighed. “Even our own paladins.”

“Princess, you do remember what happened last time, right?” Shiro asked. “Pidge told you off and a food fight was started.”

“It was to help you train!”

“You were getting frustrated, too.”

“Well all they did was complain and dawdle.”

“They’re kids. One of them is blind.”

“We didn’t know she was blind!”

“Princess?”

“Yes?”

“Give the kids a bit of a break now and then. You push them too hard, then they’re either gonna snap more than Pidge has ever snapped or they’re going to crack under the pressure.” Shiro smirked when the Altean princess looked sheepish; she knew he was right. “And if Chief were here, he’d agree fully. And not out of bias over the twins and Keith, but out of fatherly care for all of them. And for you.”

“I suppose you’re right…” Allura mumbled.

Commander Keith sighed. Perhaps Shiro was right. Perhaps even they, the Voltron Force, should let up a bit on their own cadets. At least a little. After all, they were still kids and thrown into their own galactic issues. They weren’t ready to carry all the weight just yet and he now understood that it could break them if it were too soon.

“Our cadets are with the younger guests.” Princess Allura stated. “And we’re not on standby for combat. And if something were to happen, we have at least one Voltron to utilize and I’m sure the others would notice.” She smiled. “And it’s our last moment together. Let’s let them have it.” At least their hosting princess was seeing the logic more quickly and on the same page as Shiro.

“I suppose.” Commander Keith nodded. He then looked when the cadets and younger guests returned. It took a lot in him to not remind them that they shouldn’t have taken off like that. “So, you lot had fun?”

“Yeah! It was good to finally check out the mall!” Larmina exclaimed, excited. “It was great. All these shopping places, even ones I hadn’t heard of? And the arcade? Plus the food stalls?”

“It was definitely the perfect teen experience.” Lance declared. “Man, I wish we had more time to do more and hang out.”

“Unfortunately we do need to get back home.” Shiro said, feeling for his team. “Chief, Coran, and Haxus are worried about us. And probably worried about an unsupervised Pidge causing mayhem.” He grinned when she flipped him off.

“Damn.” Daniel sighed. He knelt down and pet Bae Bae, the bull terrier pleased to get final affections from him. He then pet Kosmo when he went over to him. “So uh… since Kosmo came from this reality, does he stay here?” Hearing him, Kosmo’s ears perked up. He then teleported to Katie, bit onto one of her pouches, and pulled her over closer to Matt. “Okay, I’ll take that as a no.”

“Looks like even the wolf is ready to go and stay with the kid.” Commander Lance chuckled. Though previously frustrated that the others for taking off, he was calm and even dreading the farewell. He went over and ruffled Katie’s hair. “You try to behave back home, you hear me?”

“I hear you, but I’m not listening.” Katie smirked as she got the red coded commander to laugh.

“Well, don’t over indulge on the stuff we got you. Especially that coffee.” Commander Lance reminded. “Gotta make that stuff last.”

“I can manage that. At least until we find Dad.” Katie mused. She let out a sigh. “I swear, he drinks so much coffee.”

“It’s true. We had to have specialized coffee to take on our mission.” Matt chuckled. He then smacked his sister upside her head. “And you’re one to talk. You’re practically addicted to coffee.”

“I’m not addicted; I can stop whenever I want.” Katie listened to the deafening silence; she just knew everyone was looking at her. “I said whenever I want, stop staring at me, I can feel your gazes.”

Commander Lance just laughed as he pat her back. “Embrace the coffee addiction, kid, it’s easier that way.”

“Anyway,” Commander Keith spoke up, “this is where we part ways. It was great getting to meet you all and work alongside you.” He offered his hand to Shiro, the black paladin accepting it. “It’s a be sad to see you go, but you are needed in your reality.”

“Yeah.” Shiro nodded. “And who knows, maybe we’ll have another opportunity to meet again. Or find a way to have full communications.”

With the final farewells given, hugs going around, a few tears on Daniel’s part as he snuggled Bae Bae and Kosmo one last time and from Hunk who never liked good byes, the teams split up. The paladins and their traveling companions went to the lions and waited until Sergeant Chip opened up the wormhole, the appearance identical to the one they came through initially. With one last farewell and wishes for a safe journey over the comms, the visiting Voltron lions took off, heading through the wormhole that quickly closed behind them.

Daniel sighed. “You think Bae Bae and Kosmo will have pups? And you think if we see them again I can adopt a couple?” He grunted when Commander Lanced smacked him upside the head, though it was more of a playful tap.

“Of course that’s on your mind.” the red coded pilot chuckled.

-+-+-+-

“Coran, that energy reading is coming up again.” Haxus reported. This got Chief and Coran’s attention. They looked on when the wormhole opened up and the five lions came through.

“Oh! Thank the ancients! They made it back!” Coran cheered. “Princess! Paladins! Are you lot okay?”

“Still alive!” Lance cheered.

“It’s still early.” Hunk sighed.

“We’re fine, Coran.” Allura chuckled a bit.

“Okay, so we really were gone, right?” Lance asked. “It isn’t gonna turn out to be just a dream?”

“What do you mean?” Matt looked to the blue paladin.

“Well, some stories have this as and then they woke up, it was all a dream in the end, which can make sense for stories, but for others?” Lance sighed. “It feels like a cop out.” His stuff was in the back, so he could check for that later for confirmation.

“Yeah, I guess you have a point.” Matt nodded.

“Um…” Regris looked to see Kosmo rest his head on Katie’s leg. “I don’t think it was a dream. Kosmo is definitely with us. And Bae Bae has that charm on her collar.”

“Good boy.” Katie hummed, petting Kosmo’s head. “We’re now home. And we gotta introduce you to Coran, Haxus, and Chief. I think you’ll like them.”

“Okay, team,” Shiro spoke up, “let’s get our lions to their hangars and head up to the bridge.”

The others confirmed the plan and went on in, heading up to the bridge. The moment she arrived, Haxus ran over and wasted no time in checking over the littlest paladin.

“And there’s the mom mode.” Lance teased, making Hunk and Chip snicker.

“Haxus, I’ve been fine and safe.” Katie informed. “I swear it. It was the others who got wrecked with this Haggarium stuff in the other reality.”

“She got captured at one point and also bitten by the blue wolf.” Matt commented.

“MATT!”

“That’s for shopping at the mall without me.”

“Snitches get stitches!” Katie grabbed her bayard, but she didn’t get the chance to use it was Haxus fussed more.

“You were bit?!” Haxus exclaimed, trying to find out where.

“On her arm, but we got it treated. She is fine.” Ulaz informed. “I made sure she and the others were okay.”

“So… this here wolf…” Chief looked to Kosmo as he sniffed around the area before approaching him. “Do I wanna know?” He pet the cosmic wolf, smiling at how soft his fur was. “Well, ain’cha a charmin’ fella.” Kosmo wagged his tail.

“Yeah uh… we couldn’t keep Pidge from adopting him…” Shiro sighed.

“You know her, no one can tell her what to do.” Matt chuckled.

“Ain’t that the truth.” Chief nodded. He then went to Keith, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You did okay, son?”

“Yeah.” Keith nodded. “It was weird but… it was a good trip to another reality.” He hugged his father. “But it’s good to be back.”

“Indeed.” Allura nodded after assuring Coran that they were definitely fine. “Oh Coran, it was so intriguing. And we even befriended another team in that other reality, they had their own Voltron!” Her smile almost seemed sad. “Father would have loved to see such a place, see that other realities truly exist.”

“Wherever his spirit rests, I’m sure he’s proud of the discoveries and adventure you lot went on.” Coran nodded. “But now that you lot are home, perhaps we should get the castle someplace safer for you to wind down and perhaps tell us more.”

“But aren’t we needed back out there?” Shiro asked. “We’ve been gone a few days.”

“Days?” Coran asked. “Good heavens, no! It’s barely been a quintant.”

“Say what now?” Hunk asked.

“Huh, sounds like time flows differently between the realities.” Chip observed, smiling. “Learning all sorts of stuff.”

“Eh, day, days, all the same when you don’t see the passage of time through a day-night cycle.” Katie shrugged. “Anyway, I wanna get some stuff from Green first. Chief, we got coffee while away. Haxus, I think you’ll like it.” She then walked off, heading back for her lion’s hangar. “Then we can chat about this other reality and the similarities and differences it held.”

“Coffee?” Haxus asked. He then jumped, as did Chief and Coran, when Kosmo teleported and appeared next to the paladin as she left. “What was that?!”

“Holy crow, that pup just teleported?” Chief inquired.

“Mightyest Wimbleton!” Coran exclaimed. “Some inter-dimensional wolf?”

“Yeah, he does that.” Keith chuckled. “Pretty helpful, and he’s good for Pidge. He’s got her back.”

“And I guess he counts as that since he’s from another dimension.” Lance mused. “But yeah. He’s like a seeing eye battle dog for Pidgey.”

“Don’t worry, other than that one bite when they first met, those two are close.” Shiro stated. “Now then, how about we move the castle and then head to the kitchen to chat? Regris, can you let Pidge know we’ll be going there? It’d be the best place for her to fix her coffee.”

“Right.” Regris nodded before running off to catch up with his small, green coded friend.

Shiro smiled. He already missed the Voltron Force, they were interesting and fun to be around. But he was glad to be back. They had their own universe that needed their help in defending. And now they even had Kosmo to help out a bit, too.