We are the Warriors ~ Voltron Next Gen (Book 1)

A Small Detour

The planet was surrounded by a thick purple gas that hid us perfectly. With Max's help, we found a deep forest to hide the lions in. After dropping them off, I got out with Officer Griffin and Thor. My friends and the other MFE pilots gathered at the forest's edge. 

We looked out at the huge city and were trying to figure out how to get in when one of the locals ran up. He looked mostly human, but with bluish skin, fangs, and furry almost bat-like ears, like the Yurax guy who attacked us. He looked about a few years older than me, at least by human comparison, and was about five and a half feet tall. He also wore garb that Luke Skywalker or another character from Max's favorite movie series might wear.

"Are you the ones who received our distress signal?" he asked. 

I nodded and he stepped forward. "Oh, thank the ancients. I was worried our signal might not-" He stopped, a look of shock on his face.

"What's wrong?" Max asked.

He was looking at our armor. "Can it be?....."

"Can what be?" Kendall growled, folding her arms.

"Your armor......" The Whoki stared in wonder, "I've only heard legends......Are you.......by any chance," he hesitated, "Voltron?"

I thought for a minute. That Yurax guy had asked for the Voltron Lions, and my friends and I had found war machines in the shape of lions. This Whoki guy had recognized us by our armor, mentioned legends, and Voltron was a legend, So...... 

Answering the Whoki, I choose my words carefully. "If by Voltron you mean huge mechanical lions, then yes. We're Voltron."

A look of admiration and happiness came over the Whoki's face. "It is an honor. I am Edar. Do you have names?"

"Oh yeah," I stepped forward, Finally, a question I, for sure, that already knew the answer to......., I held out my hand, "I'm Sky."

"Sky," Edar gladly shook my hand. "Beautiful name." 

Kendall stepped forward and followed my lead, with everyone else right behind her. Even the MFE pilots introduced themselves, and I introduced Thor, who barked exictedly.

"So you can get us inside?" I asked Edar.

He nodded. "I can. But we must be careful and quiet. If we are caught, the Zia will kill the royal family. We can not let that happen. I can't lose my family, not again."

I looked at him. "Huh?"

"I lost my real family when I was just a boy to the Zia," Edar explained, "Then the royal family adopted me, and it's like I always belonged."

I placed a hand on his shoulder. "We'll be careful. I promise."

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We left MFE pilots behind to guard the lions and keep a hold of Thor and Kosmo so their barking/snarling wouldn't give us away. Edar lead us to the castle wall, which was about fifteen feet high. Edar climbed over first since he was tallest. Because Kendall and Karter were the strongest, it was probably the Galra blood running through their veins, they made footholds with their hands for us to climb up. 

I went over first and crashed into the soft grass on the other side, jarring my bad knee in the process. That was gonna hurt in the morning.

My friends clambered over behind me and jumped down one by one until Shay was the last one on top of the wall.

"Shay!" I whisper yelled up to her, "You can jump down! It's a soft landing!"

"No I can't!" she hissed back at me, "You know how I am with heights!"

"Oh, come on Shay!" Alyssa whined up to her in a low voice, "You're not gonna die!"

"You don't know that!" She hissed, "I would fall a lot faster than you Alyssa!"

I interjected, "Shay you have to jump down before we get caught! Come On!"

Shay got into a crouch, sucked in her breath and blurted, "Everything good and holy in this universe bless my broken body!" and she jumped down with a small, "YAAAHHH!"

Shay bounced a little on the soft grass and almost crushed the twins, but everyone was otherwise unharmed.

"This way," Edar told us, and we snuck inside the castle.

As we dodged the sight of the guards, it got harder and harder, the deeper inside we got. Edar lead us to a part of the castle where the second floor overlapped the first floor. I crouched down like everyone else, then peeked through the bars of the banister. 

I could see more Whoki, all blue-skinned, tall and with fangs. Their robes were more sophisticated like Edar's, so I guessed that they must be the royal family. Surrounding them were about ten more Whoki, dressed in ragged, torn and dirty robes, carrying a variety of weapons. Most of their faces were covered with pink scars and one or two of them were even missing a hand or an arm. I thought those must be the Zia.

Among the Zia were twenty- what I assumed were- the Shifts. Like back on the Atlas, each one looked like a different alien race, but they all wore the same ugly uniform, lime green, and camo. Seriously, these guys needed to meet with a clothing designer and get some fashion help. Each Shift either carried a big blaster that required two hands to hold it up or a broadsword.

The royal family had their hands bound behind their backs. That was expected. What wasn't expected was what seemed to be arcs of electricity around them.

I asked Edar about it, and he said, "They are electrical bindings. They put me in bindings as well when they attacked, but I managed to escape."

"How?" I asked.

"The bindings are powerful because the can be controlled remotely and kill the victim at a moment's notice," Edar told me, "But they do have a weakness. The bindings require an extreme amount of energy constantly. Just five of those bindings alone need enough power to charge a whole battle cruiser. I escaped because mine shorted out and I bolted."

"If the bindings need so much power where are they getting it?" I wondered.

"Probably remotely from the city's own power generator," Edar said.

I grinned. "Lightbulb."