Chapter 19: Paladin's Journey
"Pidge, I don't like the idea of you going alone." Shiro said over the coms. Pidge was currently sitting in her Lion, Shiro on screen talking to her. Her only company was her little bot Rover. "You sure you don't need backup?" Shiro questioned.
"I'm sure." Pidge replied. "The intel that shopkeeper gave me leads me to believe they could pull out of their location at any time. I need to act fast, this may be my only chance. Plus, you guys still have plenty to on Olkarion." She stated.
"You're right. Good luck." Shiro said.
"Hey, while you're out, will you look for some more fluuto beans?" Hunk asked.
"No, no, no! No more beans for Hunk!" Lance strongly rebuffs. Pidge groans.
"Gotta go." The Green Paladins says and ends the transmission. She looks up at Rover, who beeps at her. She smiles and pilots her lion off, eventually arriving at a scavengers type planet.
She ventures into the city, dressed in a brown cloak to lay low, and Rover in tow. Following a map, she arrives at a rundown underworld shop. She ventures in, walking through the dark creepy place. She turns a corner, and sees a Unilu man at a desk, his feet prompted up on said desk.
"Shop's closed." The man says.
"I'm just looking for directions to a show." Pidge says as she approaches the alien. "I heard it's explosive." She adds while stopping in front of the guy.
"So you're the one looking for the nano-thermite titanium-boron? Very expensive. Difficult to procure, I assure you." He says.
"Keep it." The Green Paladin replies.
"You're backing out on our agreement?" The guy says as he sits up.
"Altering it, in your favor." Pidge replies. "I'll still give you the money, but in return, you tell me who is in this video and where to them." She says as Rover shows the video of her brother when he was being broken out of Galra prison.
"Why would I know those people?" The Unilu asked.
"Because they used nano-thermite titanium-boron, and you're the only one in this section of the galaxy that seems to be selling it." She stated.
"I've had some good luck selling things of value, and I think the Galra would pay a lot to know how you got your hands on that security footage." The alien smuggler exclaimed as he pulled out twin swords, aiming at the Green Paladin.
"Really? This is we're doing it? All I want is the information." Pidge says, a little annoyed. The Unilu then lunges at her, though the Paladin retaliates by pushing back the table he was standing on, causing him to lose his balance. The guy gets up and goes for her, but she quickly uses her bayard to lasso a metal chuck of something, and hit him in the back of the head, effectively knocking him down.
"Had to do it the hard way." She sighs as she leans down to the smuggler. After tying him and up and getting him to talk, Pidge finally got what she needed. "Thanks for the intel." She says as she chuckles and walks out of the place, leaving the guy tied up on his desk. She walks back to the Green Lion and flies the ship off the planet, heading to find the rebel that broke Matt out of the Galra's clutches.
"Te-osh." She said as she pulled up a picture of the same person who was pulling Matt out of the prison in the video. "Looks like I got a positive ID." She says as she and Rover compare the images to confirm it was the same person. "Last known whereabouts..." She says as she searches her lion's database then an image pops up. "Kraydah's moon." With that she made her way to said moon.
She soon arrives at the moon, only to find a freedom fighter's base there being attacked by the Galra. Crap! Pidge grunts and flies in. Just in time too, the situation wasn't looking too good. The Green Paladin proceeded to take the Galra fighters out and save the freedom fighters there. Needless to say, the rebels were surprised to see the Green Lion. Pidge saw one of the fighters coming up and she proceeded to land the Lion and walk out to see the guy.
"Greetings. I am Lieutenant Ozar. You must be one of the Paladins." He greets.
"Yes, I'm Pidge. What's going on?" She replied then asked.
"We defeated a wave of Galra forces. More are coming, so we're evacuating." Ozar explains while other fighters are moving supplies about ships. "But now that you're here, we might stand a chance. Will the other lions be here soon?" he asks.
"I'm sorry, Voltron isn't coming. It's just me." Pidge replied. "I'm looking for Te-osh. Is she here?" She asked.
"Te-osh is inside the base loading up the last of the medical supplies." The Lieutenant replies pointing to said ship on top the base. "We were just about to leave. Your timing is most fortunate." He adds.
"Thank you. I'll give you a hand loading up. I just need to speak to her first." She says as she walks by him, heading for the base.
"Thank you, Paladin Pidge." Ozar thanks her. Pidge continues to run up the base, only for another squad of fighters to start attacking.
"No!" Pidge shouts as pieces of the base come flying at her. Luckily she activates her shield in time before she could hit. As more fighter descend, the ship atop the base takes off. Pidge makes her way back to her lion, as the fighters notice and starts shooting at the ship. "Get to cover!" She tells Ozar as she activates her jetpack, then uses her bayard to get in the Green Lion.
"You're really, really going to regret that." She says as she sits in her seat and activates her lion, flying the ship up and after the fighters, however one of the supply ships were damaged. "Is everyone okay?" She asked the fighters.
"For now, thanks to you. But our ship is damaged. We are stranded here and cannot help Te-osh." Ozar informed. "Please, Paladin. You must help her." He pleaded.
"What about you?" Pidge asks.
"We know what it means to fight the Galra. The supplies on that ship are more important than out lives." Ozar states. Pidge understood, but knew what she had to do.
"Everyone aboard, now!" she ordered.
After helping the freedom fighters, Pidge flew up into space to assist Te-osh against the galra fighters.
"Te-osh, I am a Paladin of Voltron. I'm here to help." She said over the coms as she shot at the attacking fighters.
"Please." A woman's replied, most likely said Te-osh. "I've been hit." The alien groans over the coms. Pidge manages to take out the fighters, using her vine ray, then boards the vessel. She arrives in the control to find Te-osh in the pilot chair.
"Oh, no. Are you okay?" Pidge asked and helped the freedom fighter out of the chair and leans her against the wall to get a better look at her.
"The ship..." Te-osh began as Pidge removed her mask, revealing her slim white, light blue and red face. "Those supplies are needed immediately." She states.
"Not without you." Pidge says and pulls up her scanner. The alien woman coughs weakly as the Green Paladin scans her injuries. Revealing she had two broken ribs and massive internal bleeding. "That's not good. I'm going to get you some help. Dang it! I should've let Lance come along, he could fix this." She says.
"Matt?" Te-osh asked when she looked at Pidge.
"He's my brother. I'm trying to find him." Pidge answers.
"You look so much like him. It's the eyes." The woman states, then coughs, a trickle of blood falling from her mouth. "Here." She says, handing Pidge a small device. "Every rebel officer has one of these transponders. It's how we find each other in the field." She says as the human girl takes the device.
"He may not have his anymore, but this is his code." She then coughs again, more blood trickling out of her mouth. "Now, please... please help get these supplies to my people." With that, Te-osh breathed her last breath as she closed her eyes. Pidge starred at the rebel fighter, clutching the device in her fist angrily.
The Green Paladin, heads back to her lion and helps the rest of the freedom fighters to their destination. By the end of it, Ozar had given Pidge his own transponder code in case Voltron needed him. Pidge then flew off in her lion, using the transponder to find Matt, using his code. She followed the signal until, to her horror, she came upon a decimated planet. She pilots her Lion down to what remained of its surface, 'till she comes upon a strange monument.
She lands and gets out of the Green Lion, followed by Rover, and observes the weird structure. It looked like a bunch of statues together, on either side of two metals wall that split into an alleyway. They looked like rebel fighters. She uses her translator on the writing on a slab in front of the monument.
"In honor of the 127,098 brave warriors that stood against tyranny. The quest for freedom is won through sacrifice." The electronic voice translated for her. Much to her shock and horror. She runs past the slab and through the space between the metal walls, Rover hot on her trail worried for his master, only to come upon a gigantic graveyard.
She rushed down to said graveyard, following the signal on the transponder, flashes of Matt going through her mind. Then she came upon one specific grave stone, though it was made of metal. The transponder beeping saying she found Matt. Her translator than read and translated the text on the metal tombstone.
"Matthew Holt. 0-0-1-0-0-5..." it said, it was Matt. Pidge burst into tears.
"I'm so sorry. I was too late." She said and began sobbing. Her brother was, dead. "NO!" She screamed as it began raining. Rover hovered to her, trying to comfort his hurt master, but she paid him no mind. Unknown to her, a shadow fell over her form. A hand reached out and touched her shoulder.
"Pidge..." Said a voice. Pidge stopped crying and looked up to see Zarc above her.
"Z-Zarc?" She says as she stares at him. "What, what are you doing here?" She asked the being.
"It seemed to me like you needed help. Unlike my predecessors I made sure to keep a better connection to you all if you ever needed me." He explained then noticed the tombstone. He looks back to Pidge. "You know, there is always more than meets the eye." He says, but just confuses the girl. "Do you remember what you learned on Olkarion?" He asked.
"You mean about how we are all connected?" She asks and he nods. "Yeah. What does that have to do with anything though?" She asks. While confused, she knew that the being always had a point to get across.
"Your power is of forest, meaning you have a deep connection to the nature of the universe." He said and takes Pidge's hand and places it on the ground. She looks at him confused, but he just gives her a smile. Pidge looks back down at her hand. She then closes her eyes and concentrates, her hand glowing neon green.
Suddenly, she felt like she opened her eyes, even though she knows they were still closed, before her was the universe itself. It was overwhelming, but beautiful. A trail appeared before her, leading her somewhere, an asteroid that looked like it was cut in half. She opens her eyes to find herself back in the graveyard, alone.
"Zarc? Zarc!" She called as she stood up, but received no answer. She thought about what she saw and quickly realized it. "Matt... he... he's still alive." Rover then flies up to her. "Come on. Let's go find him." She said and walked back to Green, boarding the Lion and taking off, not knowing she was being watched.
She flew to the system of the planet, but found there was a small fleet. Two battle cruisers and a bunch of fighters. She put up Green's cloaking device, and carefully maneuvers her way through the fleet undetected. She then reaches the asteroid.
"There doesn't seem to be anyone, or anything here." She said as Green descended down the planet. She flies her lion into a cave and lands. She steps out of the ship, and made her way down the tunnel, Rover right behind her. They reach the bottom but find nothing. "It's a dead end." She says looking around.
She then remembers her power. She presses a hand to the ground and focuses, just then a door in the floor opens up. She floats over to the hole in the ground, and flies down through it into some sort of facility, which luckily had artificial gravity, allowing her to place her feet on the floor.
"This must be some kind of spy facility." She said as she looked at a holoscreen. She gasps as a masked figure from behind her attacks. She manages to dodge out of the way, but the strange masked guy pursues her. She dodges again, before taking out her bayard, using it to grab the guy's staff. He manages to throw her across the room and went to attack her.
"What have you done with my brother!?" Pidge screams at him, causing the guy to freeze. The Green Paladin takes the advantage and strikes him with her bayard, knocking back and his mask off. She goes to attack when the guy turns to face her, and she froze just before her bayard made contact. It was Matt, her brother.
"Pidge?" The older Holt sibling said with wide eyes.
"Matt?" The girl said, tears forming in her eyes. She lowered her bayard, allowing Matt to stand up, the two siblings stared at each other, before embracing. "Oh, my gosh! Ever since the Kerberos Mission, they said you were dead, but I knew in my heart that you weren't!" The young girl exclaimed.
"I can't believe you found me. It doesn't seem possible." Matt said as he backed up and starred at his sister in the eyes.
"The thought of you and Dad kept me going, inspired me to do the impossible." Pidge explained.
"Okay, but seriously, how'd you get this far into space?" He asked.
"It's a long story. Is there any chance you've heard of Voltron?" She answers than asked.
"Of course I've heard of Voltron." Matt replies.
"Well, I'm one of the paladins." The younger sibling answered, a little smug.
"No! No! Seriously? You're a Paladin of Voltron? That's so awesome!" Matt said proud, and proceeded to pick up his sister and spun her around.
"What a touching reunion." At the sound of an unknown voice, Matt put Pidge down and the two turned to see a mysterious person in a cloak.
"Who are you?" Pidge asked.
"Who I am is not important." The guy replied in a gravelly voice. "I am here to collect the bounty on your brother Matt. But a Paladin of Voltron and the Green Lion? What a day." The guy said.
"Stand back, Pidge/Matt." The siblings said at the same time. The two looked at each other, smirking, before looking back at the mysterious bounty hunter.
"Let's show this guy what the Holts are made of." Pidge said to her bro.
"Looks to me, you're made of meat, just like everyone else!" the bounty hunter said, while shedding the cloak revealing a humanoid reptilian like creature. The hunter charges at the Holt siblings, two laser whips in hands. Pidge and Matt fight him off as best they can, with Pidge getting a "shock" from one of the laser whips.
"Stay away from my sister!" Matt shouted as he charges at the bounty hunter, who deflects his attack.
"You're both worth more to me alive, but I'll take something over nothing." The reptilian alien said, whipping at Matt and electrocuting him like with a taser. Pidge manages to grab the alien's attention and lead him away from Matt. The Green Paladin swings away onto one of the ledges of the facility.
"You'll have to do better than that!" The bounty hunter taunts and goes after the young girl. The two fight on the beams before jumping down to ground. Matt recovers enough and shouts to his sister.
"Pidge, the panel!" The girl takes her brother's advice, and rips a metal panel off one of the electric conductor poles, causing one of the whips to get caught in the wiring.
"What?" The reptilian said confused.
"Matt, now!" The girl yells at her brother. The older boy runs at the bounty hunter, who whips at him, but the laser gets caught on another conductor. Matt slides under the whip, stabs his pole into the ground and shoots the pole at the whip causing the reptilian to be electrified, weakening him. With him dazed, Pidge and Matt both charge at him and deliver a double knuckle-sandwich to his face. Knocking the alien back against another metal pole, and unconscious.
"Good thinking, exposing that electric whip to the asteroid's magnetic field." Pidge says to her brother.
"You're the one who recognized he was clearly using direct current and thought about completing the circuit." Matt says back.
"Tesla!" Pidge says as the two high-five, just then Rover flew in. "Oh, Matt, this is Rover. He's a Galra bot I reprogrammed myself." She explained. Matt looked at the little droid then back at Katie.
"I have the coolest little sister in the whole galaxy. Now all we have to do is find Dad." Matt says as Katie takes off her helmet. "You kept the glasses?" He asked when he noticed his sister putting his old spectacles.
"Of course I did." Pidge replies. The glasses were given to her by Matt on the day he left for the Kerberos Mission, since the Garrison had fixed his eyes. Suddenly, Rover started beeping. "Huh? What's the matter boy?" Pidge asked, then heard a grunt. She and her brother looked back at the bounty hunter as he was getting up. "Shit!" She thought and went to get bayard, when Rover beeped again. Pidge turns her attention to the little bot, when a small hatch opens a few seeds fall.
Pidge catches the seeds, almost forgetting she added that feature to Rover, and quickly understood. She clenches her fist, the inside glowing green, then chucks them at the reptilian. The seeds burst into vines and Pidge manipulates them into tying and binding the hunter to the metal pole, covering him from head to toe.
"Whoa! What?! What was that?! H-how did you?!" Matt stuttered.
"Uhh... long story." Pidge said. "How you by the chance heard of Zarc?" She asked, Matt starring at her.
Meanwhile, across the galaxy, Keith and Kolivan made it the planet Ara. They had landed on the planet's surface, and Keith went out to search for Lady Selifae. Kolivan wanted to come along, but Keith stated that he had to do this alone. He met one of the locals and they led him to the house he saw in his vision. The local then left and Keith walked up to the house and knocked one the door.
The door opened, revealing a tall figure dressed in a flowing white hooded robe, with black trim. The figure was distinctly female, with unique blue eyes, the sclera being light blue, the iris dark blue and the pupil navy blue. Her hair was silky and ivory white and seemed very long, but her most stand out feature were the black markings on her face that contrasted greatly against her pure white skin tone.
"Are you Lady Selifae?" Keith asked once he snapped out of his starring.
"Yes. Can I help you?" She asked.
"You know Zarc?" He asked and she nodded. "He told me to find you." He said.
"Aw, so you are the one he told me about." She said, rather bluntly. "Well, don't just stand there, come on in." She invites him in. The inside wasn't much, a boiling pot over a fire, next to a table, some herb looking plants, and a chair next to the pot. The alien woman sat down in the chair and looked at him. "So, what's the problem then?" She asks him with an almost laid back tone.
"Well, I don't know exactly. Zarc said to come here, and recently my Lion wouldn't respond to me." Keith answered.
"Uh-huh. I think I already know what's up. Zarc informed me. Just let me check." She said and gets up, turning to her pot. She stood up, grabbed a hand full of spices and tossed them into the pot. "You don't mind do you?" She says as she took a knife in hand and went towards Keith.
"What, I don't--Yeow!" Keith screeched as the lady took his hand and slashed it. "What the quiznack lady?!" He yells as he nurses his hand, while the white woman holds the blade over the pot, allowing a drop of blood to fall into the concoction.
"Oh quit whining." She said annoyed as she took his cut hand and waved her black hand, a contrast to the rest of her white skin, over his. A blue glow surrounds the cut as it closes, healing almost instantaneously. Keith stares at his hand, specifically where the cut once was, while Selifae went back to her pot and looks. "Ah-ha, just as I suspected. Zarc was right to send you to me." She said.
"What? What's wrong?" He asks impatiently.
"Isn't it obvious?" The woman asked annoyed. "My you're just as stubborn and hotheaded as him, and that's the problem." She says.
"What? I don't get it." Keith said now getting annoyed himself. The woman give him an irritated look in return.
"Can't go five ticks without flapping your gums huh?" She says, then sighs. "Okay, I'm going to put this as simply as I can, so it can get through your thick skull, to your tiny little brain. You. Are. Going. Bad." She drilled in. Keith stared at her. What?
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