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"All right, let's not panic."
Hunk looked at Shiro incredulously, "Not panic? The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us. We only have four Lions."
"Technically, only three working Lions." Pidge said.
"That's right. Thank you, Pidge. Three working Lions and a Castle that's, like, 10,000 years old."
"Actually, it's 10,600 years old." Coran butted in, straightening his collar, "You see, it was built by my grandfather—" Hunk placed his finger over Coran's mouth.
"Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!" He moved to Olive, who took his hand in solidarity.
"Wait! This Castle has a particle barrier we can activate." Allura added.
Lance got a goofy smirk on his face, "Girl, you've already activated my par -"
"Lance."
Coran frowned, "The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever. The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last."
"Well, yeah." Olive said, furrowing her eyebrows, "They've had ten thousand years to catch up."
Hunk's eyes widened. "Panic now?"
"No. We've just got to figure out our plan of action, and... figure it out quickly."
"I say we pop through a Wormhole and live to fight another day." Lance stated, and Olive elbowed him in the side.
Hunk nodded rapidly. "I second that. Yes. I mean, we tried to find all the Lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have three. We can't form Voltron. I— man, I guess we could form a... snake? Or a worm! To go through that hole, Lance, that you were talking about."
"Then, it's settled. Allura, you ride with me. One of you take the old guy." Coran's face darkened in anger.
Olive shook her head, "We can't just leave!"
"Olive's right. We can't just abandon Arus. The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them." Pidge said.
"Okay. If we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Earth. We form the snake-worm thingamajig and we hisssssout of here."
Keith spoke up for the first time since everyone got back, and she almost forgot that he was there. "Sendak could destroy the planet then come after us anyway. Staying is our only option."
"Here's an option: shut your quiznak."
Allura and Coran gave a horrified gasp at Lance's words.
Keith scowled, "I don't think you're using that word correctly."
"What do you know, Mullet?"
"We're staying."
"Leaving!"
"Staying!"
"Snake!"
"Guys, stop!" Everyone snapped to attention. "Princess Allura, these are your Lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?"
"I... I-I don't know." Allura sighed, looking down in shame.
"Perhaps your father can help." Coran said.
Allura's head snapped up, "My father?"
———
When Allura came back, her hair was up and she now wore a suit of futuristic armor. "You five Paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope."
"We're with you, Princess."
Allura brought them to a room with glass platforms that held five individual sets of different colored armor. "Your suits of armor.
"Boys, it's time to suit up."
Allura looked at Olive, "There are sets of traditional Altean warrior suits on this ship. You are more than welcome to help these five out." She shot the paladins a look. "They'll need it."
Olive mirrored her grin, "It would be an honor, Princess. Just tell me where they are." Allura gave her explicit instructions, and Olive followed them to a T.
They led her to a room similar to the ones that the Paladin armor, but this one had stands of armor that was nearly identical to what the Princess had been wearing, but a bit bulkier. Olive grinned. Bad. Ass.
The under suit of the armor was black, and the armor itself was a stark white. The accents were a light blue that matched the glow of the castle, whereas Allura's were pink. It was truly just a slimmed down version of the Paladin's armor.
She met them back in the main room, where Lance whistled the moment she stepped in. She smacked him upside the head as she passed him to stand by Hunk. The team formed a plan to get Keith's Lion.
"You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship." Allura spoke.
"That's a pretty big ship. How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?" Keith asked.
"Oh, it's not a matter of 'we'. It's a matter of 'you'." Pidge smartly added.
Hunk grinned, "Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and track it down." He made a bunch of hand movements that accentuated his points.
"Yeah! You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?" Lance asked.
Keith frowned. "You made fun of me for that."
"And I'm proud of that, but turns out it's exactly like that mumbo-jumbo."
"Keith, remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You'll have to earn its respect." Allura looked worried, and Olive couldn't blame her. It seemed like they were rushing into this really quickly.
"All right. Here's our plan of attack." Shiro said, placing a hand on Keith's shoulder.
