The Purple Paladin

Chapter Six : Castle Attack

"The monster fell from the sky! It was an epic battle, but Voltron was victorious!" The Arusian king says, retelling the story of our last battle as other Arusians act it out. The wrong stack of Arusians fall causing him to scold, "No, no I said Voltron was victorious." The Arusians fixed themselves and all the others cheered.

Allura gives a pained smile, though even I can't tell if it's from their acting skills or from the fact that we'll be leaving these kind creatures behind soon. "Thank you, your majesty, for that wonderful production. It saddens me that we must leave tomorrow, but we must continue our battle with Zarkon and spread peace throughout the universe," she takes a small device and hands it to the king, "Please accept this gift. Use it whenever you need help. Arus will be the first planet of the Voltron Alliance."

"Hoorah!" the king yells and all the Arusians cheer with him. They continue to celebrate but I stay off to one side near the door.

'Something just doesn't seem safe about opening the castle like this,' I think as I watch the sky.

At one point I see what I think is Rover, Pidge's little Galra robot that he stole and reprogrammed back when we retrieved the Red lion. Then I see that Rover is over by Pidge and that this robot has red lights instead of green. 'Oh no,' I think and follow it to the control room where the crystal that powers the castle hangs from the ceiling. Coran and Lance are just leaving.

"Hey, Rover," Lance says. Then he turns, "Wait... Where's Pidge?"

The lights on the robot glow brighter. "Look out!" I yell. I'm about to summon a shield to protect us when I'm knocked backward.

Lance shoves Coran and I clear just before the robot explodes, taking the crystal with it.

I slam into a wall and slump there. Once my ears stop ringing and my vision returns to normal I see that Coran is alright but Lance is lying on the ground not moving, "Lance!"

As I run to his side the others run in, "V, what happened?!" Shiro asks.

"The Galra," I snarl, "they took advantage of Rover and sent in a robot just like him to blow up the crystal. Lance shoved me and Coran out of the way of the blast just before it went off." I look down at Lance, "You idiot, why, I could have protected us all if you hadn't pushed me," I whisper.

"We have to get him to the infirmary!" Pidge cries.

Allura wrings her hands, "That won't do any good! Without the crystal, we have no power!"

Then the Arusian king runs in, "Lion Warriors! Our village is under attack!"

"Let's get to our lions," Keith says.

"They can't leave the hangers without power," Allura frets.

"So, you will not help us?" The king is clearly confused about the whole conversation.

"No, we will help we just—" Keith starts but is cut off by Lance groaning in pain.

"This is bad," says Shiro.

I grit my teeth and place both my hands on Lance's chest, 'Here goes nothing,' I think and focus on my healing powers. Violet energy swirls around Lance but I can tell that even with my powers it will be a while before he can move. Plus I don't know how long I can do this without exhausting myself as I have had almost no training with these powers yet.

"We have to get a new crystal to get the castle working again. But to get a new crystal we need a ship," Coran frets.

Pidge's head snaps up, "The pod I was loading! We can use that! I left the bay doors open!"