Paladins of Highschool

Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry, it's me. Again. Once again, lots of direct quotes. Not mine. The next chapter will be wayyyyy more original, though, and its kinda where the story gets going (I think; it may be the next chapter after that, but we'll see.) Sorry I posted this so late, I started school and its super stressful...... yay. Thanks again for reading, and enjoy! ~Ally

Hunk's POV

Of course Keith would show up now. Even though their rivalry was mostly one-sided, it made Lance extra competitive against him, and his sudden need to get in immediately was obvious. We found the exit to the hall-like vents pretty quickly, and Lance stormed into the room. It was clear that the scientists inside had been beaten quickly, and Keith stood trying to lift Shiro. "Nope, no, no, no, no. No, I'm saving Shiro," Lance said quickly, helping Keith lift him. "Uh, who're you?" Keith asked, seeming to be confused, or, at the least, distracted. "Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance? We were in the same class- and Flight Club- at the Garrison Middle School." Lance blinked a few times, but Keith just stared blankly. "Uh, were you training to be an engineer?" he asked, after the pause. "No, I want to be a pilot! We were like rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck-and-neck?" he said, outraged. "Oh, I remember you. You were going to be a cargo pilot." Lance corrected him. "Fighter class, thanks to you washing out." Keith returned his focus to Shiro. "Well, congratulations." Between the two of them, they were able to drag Shiro through the hallways out a back exit where Keith had his motorcycle. We quickly piled on, and as he took off we heard golf carts behind us. "Great," Pidge sighed. "Are we even allowed to have motor vehicles on campus?" Keith shrugged as he sped up, and my stomach churned. He passed several of the separate school buildings and swerved around campus, quickly leaving the golf carts far behind. Unfortunately, they had a motorcycle too. "Can't this thing go any faster?" Lance complained. "We could toss out some nonessential weight..." Lance looked around to find something to throw out until realizing there was nothing. "Oh, that was an insult." I looked ahead to our route, which was taking us dangerously close to the edge of the campus, and I managed to swallow my sickness. "Um, guys, is that the ravine?" Just towards the outskirts of the campus, there was a ravine that supposedly used to be part of the school grounds, but was now overgrown with weeds and filled with who knows what. "Yup." The bike suddenly sped up, and I yelled as we jumped into the ravine- and for once, I wasn't the only one yelling. I could hear Lance and Pidge's screams as well, but Keith seemed to enjoy our pain. "What are you doing? You're going to kill us all!" Lance somehow managed to shout, and Keith just huffed. "Shut up and trust me!" We landed with a thunk and a bump, and when I looked back, no Garrison vehicles remained behind us. Keith kept going until we came to a less weedy part of the ravine, covered in hot sand, and there was what seemed to be an old abandoned P.E. storage shack, but now, inside, it was decorated with a board covered by a sheet on the wall, a table, and a couple chairs. Burn marks seemed to decorate the edges and walls of the room, but for the most part it was in good shape for an old abandoned shack. Why did we come here? How did Keith know about this place? And what happened here?

Keith's POV

It had been so long since I had seen Shiro; so long since I was told he was dead, so long since I became completely alone, so long since I had been kicked out of the Garrison. Seeing him strapped to the examination table- missing an arm, a robotic arm in its place, a white streak in his hair, a scar along his nose- it threw me off. I was startled- relieved, thankful, happy, of course- but at the same time, I was unsure. What if it wasn't just his appearance that changed? I knew he was still the same person, but what if something had changed him somehow? Changed him to no longer care, to give up on people? Or to be less of himself, or to be afraid, scarred, traumatized? I glanced worriedly at him, as he fingered his new arm outside of the shack. "It's good to have you back," I said, hoping he knew how much I meant that. "It's good to be back." I walked and stood next to him. "So what happened out there? Where were you?" I could tell my voice sounded worried, rushed, but that was because it was. "I wish I could tell you. My head's still pretty scrambled. I was in some organization's headquarters, but somehow I escaped. It's all a blur. How did you know to come save me when I got back?" I hesitated. "You should come see this." I knew my board sounded crazy, the theories that led me to him sounded absurd. But it was the truth. "After getting booted from the Garrison's extracurricular programs- specifically Flight Club- I was kind of lost and found myself drawn out to this place. It's like something... some energy, was telling me to search." Shiro looked at me. "For what?" I paused for a moment. "Well, I didn't really know at the time... until I stumbled across this part of the campus." I pointed to the map of the school grounds. "But- there's nothing there, its just part of the ravine," Pidge said, confused, but without conviction. "Exactly. There's an old playground-type structure, and it's covered in these weird markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading up to some event, some arrival, happening last night." I turned back to Shiro. "Then you showed up."

Lance's POV

First Pidge, then the Shiro, and then Keith- all of them talking about this 'Voltron', this organization. Maybe there's something to this... I mean, Pidge is a literal genius, Shiro's a hero and legend, and Keith was the top of the class until he got kicked from the extracurricular activities... I was brought out of my thoughts when Shiro addressed me. "I should thank you all for getting me out... Lance, right?" He asked, holding out his robotic looking arm. How does he know my name? I glanced at his outstretched hand and realized I had hesitated, and slowly I reached out and shook his hand. He turned to Pidge and Hunk. Pidge shook his hand and clarified. "The nervous guy's Hunk," he said, gesturing to Hunk. "I'm Pidge. So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?" Is it just me or was something wrong about that last part? Something in his voice, his expression, his mood- something seemed to change, to be off somehow. I squinted at him suspiciously, but I didn't say anything. "I'm not sure. I remember the mission and being captured- after that, its just bits and pieces," Shiro said slowly. "Yeah, sorry to interrupt," Hunk interrupted. "But back to the organization- Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for all of us? Like, where are they at this very moment?" He asked, sounding both rushed and panicky. Shiro sighed. "I can't really put it together. I remember the word 'Voltron'. It's some kind of weapon they're looking for, but I don't know why." He paused, and seemed to gain an air of leadership as he did. I saw a look of relief go over Keith's face for a split-second, but he then went back to his usual grumpy face. "Whatever it is, I thing we need to find it before they do. Hunk nodded. "Well, a few minutes ago, I was rummaging through Pidge's stuff, and I found this picture. Look, it's his girlfriend," he chuckled. I snickered. Pidge did not seem the type to have a girlfriend, but by his face, it was something he wanted us to never know about. "Hey!" He protested, snatching the picture from Hunk's hand before I could see if I recognized the girl. "What were you doing in my stuff anyway?" He asked incredulously.  "I- well, I was looking for a chocolate bar, but then I started reading his diary-" Pidge jumped to grab a beaten up book out of his hands. "What?!" Hunk ignored him and carried on nonchalantly. "And I noticed it looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line." Keith's expression turned puzzled. "Frown what?" Hunk looked at him. "It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element, only this element doesn't exist on Earth. I thought it might be this Voltron. And I think I can build a machine to look for it, like a Voltron Geiger counter." I smiled. "Hunk, you big, gassy genius!" He nodded at me. "It's pretty fascinating, really. The wavelength looks like this," he said, holding up a graph with a line going up and down. Keith grabbed it. "Give me that!" He turned and held it up next to a picture on his board and I gasped, along with everyone else.

The line matched the exact outline of the outcropping.