The Pink Paladin of Voltron

A Little Adventure

The paladins were on a different planet from the one that they fought Lotor near. Everyone stood in the Black Lion as they looked down at Shiro in a healing pod. He was back and now with white hair. Hunk questioned, "Is-- is he gonna be okay." Keith stood next to Olivia with his hands on the pod. "Only time will tell if this body will accept Shiro's consciousness," replied Allura. "Is there anything we can do to help?" asked Lance. Pidge pulled up a screen from her gauntlet. "I've tried contacting the Voltron Coalition, but I can't get through to anyone," Pidge spoke, looking at the screen, "It doesn't make any sense. There might be some distortion I'm not picking up on." She raised her eyebrow in confusion. Olivia suggested, "What about getting into the upper atmosphere for a better signal?" "The lions aren't going anywhere without recharging their power cores," Hunk telling the brunette that the idea was going to be hard. 

Allura stated, "The battle with Lotor severely depleted them. If we had the Castle of Lions we could recharge them, but..." Everyone looked down as they were in a hard situation. "Is there another way to recharge them?" Pidge broke the silence. "They can recharge naturally given enough time and ambient energy, but that might take phoebs," Coran informed them. Keith looked up from Shiro's pod. "There's gotta be something we can do," said Keith. "We are on the Dalterian Belt, home to the element faunatonium," Coran told them, "We may be able to use it as a temporary solution." "Oh! I've been there with my daughters and husband a few times," Beautiful Meadow spoke, "That was years ago...well...thousands of years ago." Olivia remembered that one of the Astrics in the Coalition was her husband and that she didn't have her daughters anymore. "Faunatonium?" questioned Lance, didn't know how that would help, "How will that charge the power cores?" "It involves gluon field fluctuations-" Coran began but was cut off. Lance stopped him, "You know what? Never mind. Magic or something? Sure." "Not far off. We're going to use the element to expand the energy particles within the cores," Coran ignored that he was cut off and knowledging Lance was close, "But first, we need a yalmor." "Wait, there are yalmors on this planet?" Hunk asked. Coran answered, "How do you think we find the faunatonium? Yalmors have a nose for the stuff." 

"Okay. You guys find a yalmor and get this faunatonium. I'll stay with Shiro," Keith told them, looking down a Shiro. Krolia put her hand on her son's shoulder to show him she would stay. "I'll stay as well," Allura spoke, "I may have exhausted the limits of what I learned on Oriande, but I still might be able to help in some way." Beautiful Meadow said the truth, "Shining Sun, you should stay. Not to be rude but you look tired and beaten." "What do you mean?" said Olivia, "I am gorgeous." Everyone could see the bruises and bags under her eyes. "Olivia, she's right. Project Twilight took a lot out of you," Keith agreed, everyone surprised by Olivia going against Haggar's top secret creation. They were read the mood to see they should ask later. Soon Olivia caved in and stayed. "All right, then, we'll get started," said Coran, he left with the other paladins and Beautiful Meadow with Romelle. Those two did have some questions about how fast events were going then they left. 

"He's going to be okay, Keith," Allura told their leader. Keith told them, "You can't imagine all he's done for me."

~Shiro's Mind~

Shiro dreamed about the past and him walking into the lounge for teachers. Adam, his best friend, and Samantha, his future wife, notice he was upset as they sat in the kitchen part. "Everything okay?" Adam asked. Shiro threw his satchel on the couch then sat down. He leaned his elbows on his knees. Shiro told the two, "Iverson thinks I shouldn't go on the mission. Called in the big guns. Admiral Sanda showed up and tried to convince Sam to remove me from the crew." He held his wrist that had his bracelet on. "Well maybe he's right," Adam agreed with Iverson. Samantha also agreed with the idea, "Maybe you shouldn't go on the mission. You'll only be putting yourself at risk." "You know how important this risk is to me," Shiro argued, "It's worth the risk." Samantha put down her books harshly. It made a thump noise on the counter. "Takashi, just how important am I to you?" Samantha asked, looking at him, "Every mission, every drill, I've been right there with you. But this...this is more than a mission. This is your life at stake." 

"Don't start that again, Sam. You two don't need to protect me," Shiro complained, looking to the other side, "We can have the wedding after I return, remember? This is something I need to do for myself." "There's nothing left for you to prove. You've broken every record there is to break," Adam told him, "I know I can't stop you...but I won't go through this again." Samantha was shocked as she didn't expect Adam to just leave his best friend. "What?" Adam stood up, looking at Shiro. "So, if you decide to go...don't expect me to be here when you get back," he says, he faced Samantha, "You should do the same. He'll just break your heart. I've got a class to teach." Just like that Adam left the lounge and Shiro furrowed his eyebrows as his best friend gave up on him.

Samantha sat next to him. "Don't mind him. Go...go on this mission," she told him. "What?!" surprised Shiro, "I thought you didn't want me to go." "To be honest, I don't want you to leave me, but this is your dream, Takashi," Samantha explained her reasoning, "Ever since we were kids you told me that you wanted to do the impossible. I wouldn't be able to look at you on our wedding day if you didn't go." "Samantha," Shiro murmured, pulling her into an embrace. She continued, "Just take into consideration how your loved ones would feel. I don't want you to go, but I can't stop you." "I promise I will return for you," said Shiro.

"Live a life you can be proud of, Takashi Shirogane."

~Present~

They all looked down at the pod in sadness. "I'm afraid the clone body is rejecting Shiro's consciousness," Allura stated. "There must be some way you can help!" Keith raised his tone, looking at the two. "Keith, there's nothing we can do," said Olivia. The Black Paladin's eyes tried to hold back the tears as his pupils shook. He banged on the pod with his head down and eyes closed. Keith called out to him, "Shiro, please. Fight! You can't do this to me again." Like if Shiro heard his words the body excepted Shiro's mind. The pod opened up to Shiro coughing. "Shiro!" Olivia said. "Keith...? I was dreaming," he spoke, "Keith...you saved me." Keith pulled him into a hug and telling him, "We saved each other." 

After the doors opened up to the others. They ran over once they saw Shiro. Lance cheered, "Shiro's looking better. All right!" "Where were you guys?" asked Keith. Olivia added, "Yeah, none of us could get ahold of you." "Well, we were shrunk, but we ended up using that sparkly dust that makes electricity bigger or whatever. Used it to unshrink ourselves," Lance explained, Shiro and Keith not buying the story while Olivia chuckled, "So, ready to charge up the lions?" Shiro sighed then laughed.

"It's good to be back."