Spirit of the Lioness (Keith x OC): A Voltron Fanfiction

Chapter 12: Rebirth

"Please tell me there's not a giant monster in there!" begged Hunk. "Please tell me it's empty! Or full of space candy. One of those two. Either one is fine."

"I don't think it's a piñata, Hunk," Lance said.

"If it's the same kind of monster that attacked us on Arus, we already know how to beat it," Keith said as he glared at the competition. 

When the smoke cleared, a giant metal pod stood in its place. It then opened with a hiss, and suddenly, something red flew outside of it, equipped with a plethora of laser cannons in its arms, eyes, and chest. It looked as if it had virtually no blind spots, due to its body being covered in eyes. It turned to Voltron, then fired a huge green laser from its chest cannon, to which Voltron struggled to defend itself from.

"It's not candy!" Hunk yelped.

"And it's not the same monster!" Lance added, eyes going wide with fear. The giant Robeast then fired again from its chest cannon. Nifa felt her arms burn from helping Voltron hold up the shield, but she knew she had to hold out, for their sake.

"We need to draw its fire away from the Balmera's surface!" she told the others. Quickly as she could, she took off into the air, flying high up from the ground. Voltron copied her move, as she could see through its vision. Drazil fired again, causing Nifa to quickly block the attack with Voltron's shield, but the cannon's blaze burned her arm even further. She felt it begin to droop from the pain.

"My Lion's weakening!" Pidge shouted in concern. "If the shield sustains structural damage, we're done for!"

"Crap!" Nifa cursed inwardly. "So every time I start to falter, Voltron does too! I need to keep it together!"

"Heck yeah, you need to keep it together!" Lance barked at her. Nifa had forgotten that as Voltron, the others could hear her inward thoughts. "We're gonna get clobbered by this thing if you can't stand strong!" 

"Lance, watch your footing!" Keith warned him, but it was too late. Nifa felt something sharp strike her heel, and she toppled over, taking Voltron down with her. She grabbed her ankle in pain, feeling a newly formed gash open. It wasn't deep, but it was enough to show that Voltron's physical damage would become hers as well. 

"Nifa! You alright?" Shiro called to her, sounding worried.

"Don't worry, I'm fine!" she assured him, staggering to her feet, hoping Voltron did the same. "But that collision with that Galra warship did me in more than I thought. You need to disband and take evasive maneuvers! It can't shoot you guys all at once." 

"That could work. Okay, Team Voltron, you heard her! Disband!"

On that word, the view to the battle went dark, and Nifa found herself back inside the castle, where Coran and Allura were busy recharging the defenses.

"Nifa! Your ankle!" Allura cried with alarm once she saw Nifa was back in her body. Nifa turned to view it, only to see it was coated in black cracks, which seemed to be fading slowly.

"What the heck is THIS?!" she cried, not expecting to see such a thing.

"It's the physical damage you sustain whilst being in Voltron's consciousness," Coran explained. "You must be careful, Miss Nifa! One of those is bad enough on its own, but if more of those cracks envelop your body entirely, your physical form will be destroyed!"

"It's nothing. I'll live," Nifa told her, shaking off the shock. "The paladins need help! Coran, fire at the Drazil, quickly!"

"But the shields aren't fully charged yet!" Coran said fretfully.