Survival of the Innocent (A Voltron fanfic) (Book 1 of Fates Entwined)

Entitlement Part 1

On the Balmera, Voltron stands in wait for the monster, Drazil, to awaken from its transport ship.

"Oh, no!" Pidge worries.

"Please tell me there's not a giant monster in there. 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 grits out, clearly stressed.

"If it's the same kind of monster that attacked us on Arus, we already know how to beat it," Keith says, focusing on the task at hand, slightly unnerved by the growled warnings from the Lions, using the Red Bayard to summon a saber for Voltron and Pidge readying Voltron's shield.

"Hold your ground!" Shiro orders as the massive Drazil emerges from its transport ship and attacks Voltron with its chest cannon, causing the Paladins to defend themselves with their shield, but get pushed back.

"It's not candy!" Hunk screams.

"And it's not the same monster!" Lance yells as Voltron frantically dodges the chest cannon blasts.

"We need to draw its fire away from the Balmera's surface!" Shiro orders as the Paladins try fighting Drazil while flying around to avoid getting the Balmera hit, but they are forced to defend with their shield, but the Robeast's chest cannon is too strong.

"We can't hold out!" Lance admits.

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

"Pidge is right!" Keith yells, the Lions agreeing.

"Oh Pidge is right. I'm the one that said, "We can't hold out!"" Lance grumbles.

"Lance, watch your footing!" Keith tries to warn him, too late, as the Blue Lion trips, and Voltron falls over, losing its shield, causing the Paladins to groan from the fall.

"Okay, Team Voltron, disband!" Shiro orders and the Lions split apart, "Everyone, evasive maneuvers! It can't shoot us all at once!" Shiro orders, but, unfortunately, Drazil spreads its arms, which are covered in laser cannons, and fires all of them to assault the Paladins with laser fire, "Okay, it can do that too."

The Paladins scramble to avoid being hit; the Castle of Lions suddenly appears to blast Drazil with a laser. Drazil responds by firing a massive blast back.

"Where does Zarkon get these beasts from? And how do they keep finding us?" Allura wonders aloud.

"Princess, the particle barrier won't sustain much longer. It's still not at full strength after the blast from the Galra ship," Coran reports.

"Keith, try to draw its fire! I'm coming in from above!" Shiro orders.

"Roger!" Keith replies and uses the Red Lion's heat ray to draw the Robeast's attention while Shiro sneaks in from behind with the Black Lion, prepared to fire its mouth cannon, but Drazil is able to rotate an eye cannon around and blast the Black Lion, forcing Shiro to pull away at the last second to avoid being hit.

"We need to find its blind spot!" Lance tells the others.

"I don't think this thing has a blind spot. It has a thousand eyes," Pidge answers.

Hunk is frantically dodging the lasers in the Yellow Lion, "Laser eyes. Laser eyes!"

"What do we do? Fighting this thing is like fighting an entire fleet at once!" Pidge asks.

"I think we've got to aim for those laser eyes and take them out," Keith suggests, the Lions unsure, but out of ideas.

"We'll cover you from up here!" Allura answers.

The Castle of Lions fires lasers at Drazil and the Robeast retaliates with an onslaught of laser fire against the Castleship's particle barrier, "We've lost the spectral generator! Going to reserve! There's a fire in VIN bay three! Suppressors on! Suppressors out! Princess, the ship is being torn apart!"

"We're taking heavy fire up here! We're in trouble!" Allura informs the Paladins.

"Princess, pull back! Get out of its range, now!" Shiro orders.

"We will not abandon you!" Allura refuses.

"You're not abandoning us. We're about to pull back anyway," Shiro insists.

"We are?" Hunk asks.

"We can't hold out. We have to. Lions, to the mine shafts! It's the only place the monster can't get us."

"Roger that!" Pidge answers.

"Heading into orbit!" Allura answers.

The Paladins fly the Lions into the mine shafts while Castle of Lions flies into space.

Shiro, Keith and Hunk meet Shay's family at the bottom of a mine shaft. Lance and Pidge are in a different mine shaft.

"What is happening?" Rax asks.

"There's a monster up there that Zarkon sent to destroy us," Keith answers.

"A monster? Will Zarkon's savagery never abate? Perhaps our people were never meant to be free," Shay sighs.

"Shay, don't give up. Zarkon's power grows with every planet he conquers, but he's weakened by every being that fights back," Hunk comforts her.

"Fight back? Against a monster like that? How?"

"I don't know, but we can beat it. Tell her, Keith."

"Can we?" Keith sighs, never one for optimism, since it was what got you killed in the arena, despite the Lions trying to encourage him.

"Yes, we can! This is our first mission and we're not going to fail. We can beat it. We just need some time to come up with a plan," Shiro answers, resting a hand on Keith's shoulder.

"See? Told you we can. Thanks, Shiro," Hunk thanks him, as the Balmera groans and the planet rumbles, "Do you guys feel that over there?"

Lance and Pidge are in a rumbling mine shaft.

"Yeah, we feel it," Lance answers.

"It's that sound again. What is that?" Pidge ponders.

Shay's grandmother places her hand on the ground cracking apart. The Balmera stills.

Rax decides to answer Pidge, "That great noise comes from the Balmera itself. Our home crumbles beneath our feet. The Balmera is dying."