Ally Gone Astray

Chapter seven

Lance raised his left arm, a blue shield formed from the armor. "Keith..." He spoke quietly. "What if we—"
"It doesn't matter if we die here, Lance." Keith kept his eyes on the witch. "This isn't real. It's a fight in our minds."
Haggar began laughing. "You two really are unprepared." She grinned, looking directly at Lance. "If you die here, you die in the real world as well."
"Both of you leave now! You don't need to do this!" Shiro begged the two of them.
Kuron responded quickly, thrusting his Galra arm at Shiro's throat, stopping just before it touched flesh. "One more word from you, and you're dead."
"Lance... Cover my back, will you?"
"Sure thing, Keith." He nodded and stepped into what he thought to be a good stance.
In moments, Keith was charging at Kuron. "Step away from the Black Paladin!" He thrusted his now awakened blade towards the imposter.
"Silly little boy." The clone smiled triumphantly.
A firm hand gripped Keith's wrist and flung him back towards Lance. The two collided, groaning as they fell to the floor.
    "How weak..." Haggar raised the palm of her hand towards the two, grinning victoriously.
    The sound of static rang out around them all as a long shot of black Altean magic made its way towards Keith and Lance.
    The two of them struggled to get to their feet.
    Lance threw up his shield, hoping to block the blow as it came towards him head on.
    Shiro watched it all, eyes widened. "Lance!" He called out to the younger Paladin, worried for his safety.
    A cloud of dust appeared the instant the magic hit the shield. Then, silence. Neither Lance nor Keith could be seen.
    Haggar approached the area where the two once were. "I told you not to rush in. Now look at you. Defeated. And I have Voltron."
    "No!" Shiro hurried to his feet, throwing himself into Kuron, hoping to be able to pin him down. "You'll never take over Voltron!"
    Just as he did to Keith, the clone gripped Shiro firmly, this time his fingers wrapped around the Black Paladin's throat. "You're just as weak as them, aren't you, Shiro? It's a shame I have to be the one to do this. I was hoping it would be one of them."
    "Kill him if you'd like." The witch said over her shoulder. "He's useless to us if they're dead."
    Kuron smiled with terrifying joy. "Thanks for letting me take your place for a while." His Galran arm illuminated a dark purple, and he raised It slowly.
    Just as he was about to strike, something hit him from behind. He yelled in pain, dropping Shiro to the ground.
    "Get your hands off of him!" Keith lunged at Kuron, wrapping his arms tightly around the man's waist. The two fell to the ground with a loud thud.
    Haggar narrowed her eyes, clearly angered by Keith's sudden appearance. "How did you—" she was cut off by a laser brushing past her nose. Angrily, she turned to face none other than Lance.
    "You really shouldn't underestimate us Paladins." Lance smiled, pointing his bayard at the witch. "Especially since I figured out how to change my bayard on command."
    While the two were distracted, Keith grabbed his blade from the clone's back, thrusting it onto his neck. "No one hurts Shiro. No one!"
    To his surprise, the other gave no sign of fear. "You should learn to to rush in. It's truly a shame... You never learn from your mistakes, do you?"
    "Keith! Look out!" Lance yelled to his comrade, but he was too late.
    By the time Keith had time to look, he took a blow to his face. He flew backwards grunting as he hit the floor. "Damn it!" He hurried to his feet, finding bis balance.
    "Shiro tried to warn you... But you didn't listen." Kuron slowly approached Keith. "You seem to have forgotten that Haggar can clone objects. Even without tests. That's the beauty of her magic."
    Just as he had said, Haggar used her magic to make an exact replica of Kuron. The one Keith had hit was just a stand in.
    "What?" Kuron laughed diabolically. "You actually though that she'd put me in battle at the start? You two really are stupid!"
    Haggar suddenly shot another bolt of magic towards Lance.
    Seeing it approach, Lance did his best to evade the incoming attack. He ran as fast as he could, aiming his shield to protect his blind spots.
    "Keith!" He yelled, grabbing the other teen and thrusting him behind his shield. "What do we do?! We might never defeat the real Kuron."
    As the two though of strategies, Haggar and Kuron slowly approached them.
    "We're screwed. We're so screwed!"
    "Lance! Shut up and trust me!" Keith shoved the Red Paladin to his side. "I know what I'm doing!"
    In seconds, Keith was once again charging at their enemy, this time Haggar.
    Lance watched, amazed at Keith's determination and bravery. But his attention quickly focused on his new opponent at the sound if Kuron's voice.
    "Would you look at that. I guess I have an easy fight. Being paired up with the weakling of the team."
    The Red Paladin's body tensed up. He couldn't move.
    "Don't listen to him, Lance!" Shiro called out. "He's lying! You're not a weakling!"
    Kuron put his arm out to his side, activating it. "Am I though? Am I lying? You really have no talent."
    "N-no!" Lance protested. "You're wrong!"
    "I don't believe I am. Name your talents, Lance." Kuron kept walking up to him. Slowly inching closer and closer to the Red Paladin.
    He hung his head low... Kuron was right. He didn't have any real talents. Not like the others. He was just some goofball... Maybe it'd be best if he just gave up.