Alternate Lives

First Fight

Caves

Fred looks up and spots the giant robotic lion in the cavern, “Is this is?  Is this the Voltron?” Hiro asks.

“It must be,” Tadashi replies.

“This is what’s been causing all of this crazy energy out here,” Go-Go concludes walking forward, “Looks like there’s a force field around it.”

“Does anyone else get the feeling that it’s staring at them?” Fred asks walking from side to side.

“No,” Tadashi replies.

“Yeah, the eyes are totally following me,” Fred mutters.

“I wonder how we get through this?” Go-Go asks feeling the force field.

“Maybe you just have to knock,” Fred says.  He knocks and the force field disappears causing him to yelp.  The floor underneath the lion begins to glow and they all see an image in their mind of the lions combining to form a giant mech.  “Uh, did everyone just see that?” Fred asks after the vison is over.

“Voltron is a robot.  Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!” Wasabi exclaims.

“And this thing is only part of it!  I wonder where the rest of them are,” Hiro says.

“This is what they’re looking for,” Tadashi realizes.

“Incredible,” Go-Go says in awe.

The lion leans down and opens its mouth in front of Fred who smirks and walks in.  He finds the pilot’s chair and sits down, “Here we go!”  the seat slides forward up to the controls and everything begins to turn on.  “All right!  Very nice!” Fred says looking around.

“Okay, guys, I feel the need to point out, just so we’re all aware.  We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now,” Wasabi says. 

Suddenly Fred hears a deep purring echoing around him.  “Whoa.  Did you guys just hear that?” he asks looking around.

“Hear what?” Go-Go asks confused.

“I think it’s talking to me,” Fred says knowing it sounds insane.  He pushes some buttons the lion stands up and roars scaring Wasabi and Hiro.  “Okay.  Got it.  Now, let’s try this.” Fred says moving the controls.  The lion bursts out of the cave and into the desert.  Fred begins to execute a series of maneuvers to learn the controls while everyone screams.

“You are the worst pilot ever!” Go-Go exclaims grabbing onto the chair.

“Isn’t this awesome?” Fred exclaims once they’re back on the ground.

“Make it stop.  Make it stop,” Wasabi repeats looking motion sick.

“I’m not making it do anything.  It’s like it’s on autopilot,” Fred replies.

“Where are you going?” Go-Go demands.

“I said it’s on autopilot!  It says there’s an alien ship approaching Earth,” Fred explains, “I think we’re supposed to stop it.”

“What did it say, exactly?” Hiro asks.

“It’s not like it says exact words.  It’s more like feeding ideas into my brain, kind of,” Fred tries to explain.

“Well if this thing is the weapon they’re coming for, why don’t we just, I don’t know, give it to them?  Maybe they’ll leave us alone,” Wasabi suggests, “Sorry, lion.  Nothing personal.”

“You don’t understand,” Tadashi speaks up, “These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path.  There’s no bargaining with them.  They won’t stop until everything is dead.”

Everyone looks at Wasabi grimly, “Oh.  Never mind then.”  The lion flies out into outer space and an alien ship materializes in front of them, “Holy crow!  Is that really an alien ship?”

“They found me,” Tadashi mutters.
 
Then, the ship begins firing on the lion.  “We’ve got to get out of here!” Hiro shouts.

“Hang on!” Fred exclaims maneuvering the lion out of firing range, “All right.  Okay, I think I know what to do.”

“Be careful, man,” Hiro shouts, “This isn’t a simulator.”

“Well, that’s good I always wreak the simulator,” Fred laughs, he pushes some buttons and a blue beam shoots from the lion cutting into the ship, “Let’s try this.”  The lion weaves through the lasers and shreds the other side of the ship.

“Nice job Fred!” Tadashi congratulates as the ship explodes.

“I think it’s time to get these guys away from our planet,” Fred says flying the lion away from Earth.

“Oh, no!” Wasabi exclaims seeing the ship come after them.

“They’re gaining on us,” Hiro points out.

“It’s weird.  They’re not trying to shoot us.  They’re just chasing,” Fred muses.

“Okay, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is good?” Wasabi says in disbelief, “I am not on board with this new direction, guys.”

“Where are we?” Go-Go asks.

“Edge of the solar system,” Tadashi points out, “There’s Kerberos.”

“It takes months for our ships to get out this far,” Hiro explains, “We got out here in five seconds.”

Suddenly a blue wormhole appears in front of the lion, “Uh, what is that?” Wasabi asks.

“This may seem crazy, but I think the lion wants us to go through there,” Fred says.

“Where does it go?” Hiro asks.

“I don’t know,” Fred replies, “Tadashi, you’re the senior officer here.  What should we do?”

“Whatever’s happening, the lion knows more than we do,” Tadashi points out, “I say we trust it, but we’re a team now.  We should decide together.”  Everyone looks at each other the same expression on their face.

“All right.  Guess we’re all ditching class tomorrow,” Fred remarks pushing the lion through the wormhole.

“Whoa,” Fred says once they come out, “That was…”  He cuts off as Wasabi vomits.

“So sorry,” Wasabi mutters.

“I’m just surprised it took this long,” Hiro says.

“I don’t recognize any of these constellations,” Tadashi mutters looking around, “We must be a long, long way from Earth.”

“The lion seems to want to go to this planet,” Fred says, “I think…I think it’s going home.”

The lion pushes down through the atmosphere and through the clouds, “Guys, personal space.  Hunk, your breath is killing me,” Fred exclaims.

“Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole?’ Wasabi asks, “Why as we listening to a robotic lion anyways?”

“It got us away from that alien warship, didn’t it?” Fred asks.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re in an alien warship,” Go-Go points out.

“Oh, are you scared?” Fred asks mockingly.

“With you at the helm?  Terrified,” Go-Go retorts back.

“All right knock it off,” Tadashi interrupts, “No one’s happy to be in this situation, but we’re here now.  If we want to get through this, we’ve got to do it together.”

“So, what do we do?” Hiro asks.

“First, we find out where we’re headed,” Tadashi says, “Fred?”

“I don’t know,” Fred replies, “I’m sorry.  The lion’s not talking to me anymore.  Wait!  Wait, wait, wait!  Shh!  Listen.  I think I hear something.”

“I’m hearing it too,” Go-Go says.

“It’s uh…It’s kind of a…a high-pitched squeal?” Wasabi says as Fred farts.

“Come on, Fred!” everyone mutters covering their noses.

“But seriously, there’s a castle up ahead,” Fred points out smirking.

The lion lands at the front of the castle, “Keep your guard up,” Tadashi advises.

“Something wrong?” Hiro asks trusting his brother’s instinct.

“My crew was captured by aliens once.  I’m not going to let it happen again,” Tadashi replies as they exit the lion. 

The lion then stands up and roars causing the castle doors to open.  The group enters the castle, looking around cautiously, “Hello?” Wasabi asks nervously.

“From the size of the lion, I expected these steps to be bigger,” Hiro says looking down.  Then a blue light shines down from the ceiling.

“Hold for identity scan,” a computer orders.

“Why are we here?” Tadashi asks as a blue light surrounds everyone, “What do you want from us?”  The blue light disappears, and the lights of the castle turn on.

“I guess we’re going that way,” Hiro mutters indicating to the one lit hallway.

They follow the lights to an empty chamber.  “Where are we?” Wasabi asks looking around.

“It’s some kind of control room,” Hiro says. 

Then two capsules rise out of the floor.  “Are these guys…dead?” Wasabi asks hiding behind the control panel.

One capsule opens revealing a girl, “Father!” she exclaims reaching out before falling towards the floor.  Fred manages to catch her and helps her up.

“Hello,” Fred says flashing a smile.

“Who are you?  Where am I?” the girl asks looking around.

“I’m Fred.  And you are right here in my arms,” Fred replies.

“Your ears,” the girl says.

“Yeah?” Fred replies confused.

“They’re hideous.  What’s wrong with them?” the girl asks.

“Nothing’s wrong with them!” Fred exclaims, “They heard exactly what you said about them!"

The girl spins Fred around and holds him down with his arm behind his back, “Who are you?  Where is King Alfor?  What are you doing in my castle?”

“A giant blue lion brought us here.  That’s all we know!” Fred exclaims.

“How do you have the Blue Lion?  What happened to its paladin?” the girl demands dropping Fred, “What are you all doing here?  Unless…How long has it been?”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tadashi says, “Why don’t you tell us who you are?  Maybe we can help.”

“I am Princess Honey Lemon of Planet Altea.  I’ve got to find out where we are and how long we’ve been asleep,” the girl says.  She puts her hands on the control panel causing a screen to pop up.

“Okay, that’s how that works,” Hiro says.  The other capsule opens and the man inside shrieks.

“Enemy combatants!” he leaps out of the capsule and Fred easily dodges him, “Quiznak!  You’re lucky I have a case of the old ‘sleep chamber knees’.  Otherwise, I’d grab your head like this, wrap you up like so…One, two, three…Sleepy time,” the man exclaims snapping his fingers.

“Well, before you did that, I’d…” Fred makes a series of noises representing his fighting, “Like that.”

“It can’t be,” Honey Lemon says looking at the screen sadly.

“What is it?” the man asks.

“We’ve been asleep for 10,000 years!” she exclaims, “Planet Altea and all the planets in our solar system have been destroyed.  Coran, father is gone.  Our entire civilization…Zarkon.”

Tadashi gasps, “Zarkon?”

“He was the king of the Galra,” Honey Lemon explains, “A vile creature and enemy to all free people.”

“I remember now…” Tadashi says sadly, “I was his prisoner.”

“He’s still alive?  Impossible!” Honey Lemon exclaims.

“I can’t explain it, but it’s true,” Tadashi says, “He’s searching for a super weapon called Voltron.”

“He’s searching for it because he knows it’s the only thing that can defeat him,” Honey Lemon explains, “and that’s exactly why we must find it before he does.”