Paladins of the past.

Chapter 8:

Chapter 8: Retrieving the Lions.

(Text on the Left is Shiro and Pidge, Text on the right is Hunk and Lance, The middle is when they are together)

It didn't take long for Pidge and Shiro to get to there destination, especially with the wormhole. The spacecraft that they were flying in, landed peacefully of the soft ground, that looked a bit like grass from Earth. They exited the pod, taking an Altean compass, that was mainly blank, a part from the occasional flash of light, which Shiro and Pidge guessed to be the green lion.

After a while, Pidge pointed out a canoe with a lion carving. Before a sloth-like alien apparent suddenly, scaring Pidge so much that they jumps onto Shiro's back. "It's just a... whatever... that thing is," Pidge muttered to herself, but due to being on Shiro's back he heard it just fine, "I bet Lance would know" Pidge finished, already planning to ask Lance about the strange alien, hoping for an answer.

The sloth-like alien, looks at the two unknown species in front of it, only to spot and recognize the Voltron symbol that was built into the Altean compass. And nodded at the two, before getting on the canoe, waving at the two.

"I... I think he wants us to get in his canoe." Pidge stated, getting back onto their feet.

"Then I guess we should go," Shiro replied, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

Pidge looked at him weirdly, "Huh?"

"I've been locked up with aliens for a year. Compared to that, this is nothing." Shiro stated as he got into the canoe. Pidge soon scrambled to follow, not wanting to be left behind.

As soon as both future paladins sat in the canoe, the sloth-like alien started paddling through the clear water. Shiro and Pidge now took the opportunity to look at the scenery. It was a crowded forest, luscious and green, It looked like a rain forest from Earth but brighter and without the rain. It looked as peaceful as Coran said it would be. Distant noises could be heard coming from the natural species from the planet.

"I wonder if Hunk and Lance are having as good a time as us." Pidge though aloud, to which Future Lance was loudly complain how Pidge had jinxed it.

Now Lance didn't expect to have a planet that was peaceful, of course not, life would never be that nice to him. He hoped for a peaceful planet like Coran said it would be but he didn't have much hope for that, it had been 10,000 years and he didn't remember how much of the universe Zarkon controlled when they met Allura, the first time around.

But this isn't what he expected.

"Oh, no! No, no, no! Oh! Oh, no!" Both Hunk and Lance screamed as Lance weaved through the galran ships as the screen in front of him went red alerting them of the danger they could obviously see. A galra fighter jet fires some missiles, which hits the back of blue, making them fall, but only slightly.

"I though Coran said these planets were peaceful!" Hunk yelled.

"Yeah but it has been 10,000 years!" Lance yelled back.

Lance dives straight down to avoid the next on slaughter of missiles, luckily missing them by inches. He soon brings blue back up to prevent her from crashing. Lance took a glance at the Altean Compass, which showed him that he was heading in the right direction, before heading straight to the galran mines.

"The coordinates show that we are on top of the Yellow lion," Lance stated

"Wait, so they were mining for ore? They don't even know that the lion is there? Or is it that they know the lion is here and are digging for it? What do you think, Lance?" Hunk rambled.

"Don't know, don't care. All the matters is that you get to your lion as fast as possible after I drop you down there."

"Me? Down there? No. No, no, no."

"I'll cover you, don't worry."

"No, what if the Yellow Lion doesn't work? Wh-What if I -- What if I can't get it the mine? What if I start crying? It's too late! I'm already crying!" Hunk once again rambled, looking super worried.

"Look Hunk," Lance said as he dodged another blast from the Galra ships, "I know this is super difficult, especially for you, but you can do this. Trust me, you and yellow become really close. You are the right person for yellow, but the Lion will not activate to save you until you prove yourself. You got this." Lance finished before ejecting Hunk, not letting him back out."

After Hunk stopped rolling, Lance quickly covered him, as Hunk got into the safety of the mine. Lance quickly set off back into the sky, firing his lasers. Soon he closed his eyes, bonding with Blue, just like he had before. It worked but he felt another presence, he clearly remembered there only being two presences when doing this before switching to Red, but now there were 3. Lance shrugged it off, to concentrate on the battle.

Shiro and Pidge are still riding down the river, both of them silent. But of course the silence didn't last long. "I know the princess said that this is supposed be my lion, but what if she's wrong, she's probably not wrong. She's a princess and Lance didn't object the me being with green but, I'm not a pilot," Pidge let out a breath, "I mean I always wanted to be a pilot. I mean, I read all the fighter manuals, but never got to fly the simulator. But, hey, I can't be all that worse than Lance. He crashed all the time, at least he used to." Pidge added, "But what if the lion doesn't respond? What if I get in there and it's too but and my feet don't reach the pedals? What if there aren't even pedals?!" Pidge rambled, bordering frantic.

Shiro let a soft smile take over his face, "You're rambling. Listen... Our commander on the Kerberos Mission, was the greatest man I ever met, and he always said, 'If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great.'" Pidge smiles fondly.

The canoe stops at a root-covered stone temple, Shiro and Pidge approach the steps; the lions carvings glow green from Pidge's presence. "Go. Be great." Shiro encouraged. Pidge grins him before running towards the temple's summit, occasionally climbing up the roots. Although nothing was found at the very, a growl echoed from the middle the roots, with a light green glow breaking through the cracks of the roots. Pidge laughs as they jumped inside of the temple, finally letting the Green Lion Break free from its tomb. Both Shiro and Pidge grab the pod before heading back through the wormhole, to the castle.

Lance narrowly dodges another laser, before taking down another Galra ship. After checking that the cost was clear, Lance settled down in front of the cave entrance, to wait for Hunk. Soon after the Yellow Lion broke through the ground, surprising Lance. And before he knew it, he sent a laser towards the other lion. "Hunk look out!"

Hunk tried to move, but failed and took the lasers to the back, Lance's face appeared on Hunk screen and vies versa. "Hunk, dude. I'm so sorry, I thought you were another Galra ship."

"Lance! It's fine, I'm fine. Thankfully, what this Lion lacks in speed, it more than makes up for it armour." Hunk replied, as controlled the Lion into a standing position.

"Paladins, please hurry back! I can't hold the Wormhole open much longer!" Allura said as she appeared on the command screen of the Blue Lion. The two Lions fly towards the wormhole, although Hunk didn't know all the controls and accidently made the Lion twirl.

"Ah- ! Not this again...! Oh...!" Hunk got out.

"Quit screwing around, Hunk! The Wormhole is closing!" Fortunately, Hunk and Lance safely reached the Wormhole. 'Man I'm going to have to tell Coran to update the systems.' Lance thought.