Lance POV

When the alarms sounded, I headed for the bridge. On the way there, I saw Hunk and he shrugged.

The bridge was in sight when Allura burst out of the doors and shouted to us, "Pidge has escaped again! She's headed for the hangar!"

Hunk and I pulled an about face and dashed for the hangar. We could hear the door open ahead of us, and we out on a little but more speed. Still, the door shut before we got there, and we had to waste time trying to get it open.

Once it was open, our eyes widened. Pidge was there. Right there, climbing into a pod. Our eyes widened even farther when she started the pod, the black shield over it solidifying, and the hangar door opened. Our helmets closed as the oxygen was sucked out into space.

We ran for our hangars, and when we got there, our Lions roared as they shot into space.

Shiro opened a channel with the pod, making it so that we could all see her, but she could only see Shiro.

"Pidge! Stop, and turn around!" His voice was desperate, all of us were.

Pidge calmly glanced at the screen, her face blank. She lifted a hand and reached to turn off the comms.

"Pidge, wa--!"

The channel was disconnected and we all heard a Lion's distressed roar.

"Ummm, Paladins--" Coran's voice echoed through the comms.

"Kind of busy, Coran!" shouted Keith. He was trying to speed up in order to catch up to Pidge, but even the Red Lion was having a little bit of trouble following all of the moves that she pulled while in the pod.

"Well, just thought you ought to know that the Green Lion is trying to get out of her hangar." His voice was rushed, and I heard loud pounding. He winced. "Please hurry."

Keith growled as he missed again, and then yelped as he lost control of his lion. And not just him. We had all lost control. The Lions piloted themselves away from Pidge's pod, and back to the castle ship.

"Nononono, come on, Blue, work with me!" I shouted as I tried to pull on one of his levers.

"Yellow, what are you doing?!" shouted Hunk.

"Red, no! Follow her!"

There was grunting over the comms as Shiro also tried to gain control of Black. "I know I can't control you, but we do need to follow her! Where are you going!"

"Green needs our help. We can find Pidge through Green if we must." The voice sunk into my head, and I stopped fighting Blue as he headed for his hangar.

The tick that he landed, I found myself not in the cockpit anymore. I was in a room that looked like the castle's lounge, except it wasn't just us paladins there anymore. We were joined by five others, all in corresponding colors with what lion they were. I came in halfway through a conversation, though.

"--feel her anymore!" yelled a petite woman about Pidge's size, dressed in green with brown boots.

She was yelling at a man in black, but he sounded calm as he asked, "Why not?" His voice may have been calm, but his expressions sure weren't.

"I'm being blocked out again, but this time it's different. This time the barrier between us feels harder. It's happening again, Black. And there's nothing I can do about it." She was starting to get softer, listening to the other man's calm voice and calming down a little bit.

She turned away from him and sat down on a couch, putting her face in her hands and her elbows on her knees.

"What do you mean? What's happening again?" I asked.

The other four suddenly remembered us, a man dressed in blue turning to me and giving me a forced grin. "Hey, Lance."

"Are you--"

"Blue? Yeah."

"We meant to bring you guys here a while ago, but things kept coming up," said a man in yellow, giving a small shrug. He turned towards Hunk and gave him a small smile.

The woman on the couch snorted. "You mean the fact that my paladin was in trouble and didn't know it and was being an idiot? Yes. She may be a genius, but sometimes she can be so stupid."

"Just like her lion," muttered Blue, looking at her sadly.

"I heard that, Blue." Her warning tone sounded so much like Pidge's that I almost checked the room for her.

Shiro cleared his throat. "So, to repeat Lance's question, what's happening again?"

The woman on the couch looked up and said, "she met a creature called an Adlim."

We looked at each other. The name meant nothing to us.

She sighed. "Give that information to Coran, and he can help you more than I can. It's probably time for you guys to go back to your bodies anyway."

I blinked and found myself in Blue's hangar. I hurried to the bridge where everyone was heading, and came in just as Keith told Coran, "She apparently met an Adlim, whatever that is."

He and Allura gasped and turned white. He turned to his console, and typed hurriedly. Finally, an image came up, but it wasn't just one creature. It was tiny pictures of thousands of creatures.

"Adlims don't have a set body. In fact, not much is known about them, except that they are more of a virus kind of alien than anything else. They pick a host, get into the host's immune system, and travel up to the brain from there. Then they take over the host's brain, and devour their memories, leaving them a shell of who they once were. The shell isn't able to make memories, and is dangerous to those around them, not being able to tell friend from foe. The only mercy you can give them, is--is death."

Our eyes widened and we all sucked in a breath.

Death? No, no, we couldn't! She was Pidge, she was our friend, she was--she was a genius, and she could find a way out. Nothing bad was going to happen

"How long do we have until, until that thing, eats her memories?" Hunk asked, wringing his hands.

"Well, technically she should already be a shell, but I suspect being a paladin would have helped her keep a stronger shield on her mind. One thing is for certain, though. Adilms need time and a safe place to feed. They are the most vulnerable then."
Coran swiped on the images, and they disappeared.

"So we just have to follow her until then, and then strike and get her back when this Adlim is feeding," I  said, nodding. Coran and the others also nodded. We had been given a shard of hope, and we would hang onto it with our lives.

Later that night

I didn't deam much after coming to space. Maybe it was because I had fulfilled my dream. But tonight, I dreamt I was in a  black place, looking at someone behind what looked like a glass wall. I got closer and realized it was Pidge.

She leaned against the glass, glaring at a girl who was an exact replica of her.

"So what am I supposed to even call you? Maybe Imposter, because you've taken over my body? Or what about Imp for short?"

"Call me whatever you like, just shut up." She took a threatening step towards Pidge, but Pidge pretended not to notice.

"Oh, wait, there are a couple curse words on Earth that would work perfectly for--" A scream cut off her words, and she was soon doubled over, gasping for breath and groaning in pain.

"Another one of those comes your way if you aren't quiet."

"Well, it's a good thing that--" another scream.

"Is that all you've got? Because--"

Scream.

"Stop talking, Pidge. Please." I found myself whispering for her to stop, but she didn't. After a few more rounds of the shocking, she was on the ground, and couldn't seem to find the strength to move her legs.

"I hope you have learned your lesson."

As soon as Imp walked away, I ran to the barrier. Her eyes were heavy and I pounded on the glass trying to get her to wake up. But before I could do much, my vision was starting to blur, a sign that I was waking up. "We're coming for you Pidge! Don't stop fi--"

Someone was shaking my shoulder. "--nce. Lance! Wake up, man, come on!"

My eyes opened and I looked up to the worried expression of Hunk. I opened my mouth, but found it was dry.

Hunk offered me a glass of water and I gladly took it. "You were yelling in your sleep. Something about wanting Pidge to stop. We didn't know what it meant, so we woke you."

I sloshed the water left in the glass and said, "I dreamed about Pidge." Hunk's eyebrows started to lift and a playful smile graced his lips. "Not like that! I mean I dreamed that she was trapped behind a barrier sort of thing and couldnt get out. A chick that looked just like her started shocking her when she wouldn't stop talking, and I wanted her to stop so that she wouldn't be in pain."

His brow furrowed, and I quickly said, "I'll talk to Blue about it, don't worry."

He gave a small smile and then said, "Well, you need to get up anyway. It's breakfast time."

I nodded, and swung my legs out of bed. He left my room and I got dressed, wondering the whole time about Pidge.

Had anyone else had a dream like that? Or was I just imagining it because of my crush on her? I shook my head. After breakfast, I would get some answers. For now, food.
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Thanks for reading, guys and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had fun writing it and finally adding in some Plance. I'm a huge supporter of the fact that Hunk would know that both of them liked each other, and then basically help them get together.

Also, I am well aware of the fact that Lance calls Blue his girl and everything like that. But, I felt like this story worked better when they were all boys except for Green.

~Ash