A/n: Anything in bold is what Arcadia says with her thoughts. Besides that small note, I hope you all enjoy! Love you all!!!
~✨Celestial✨~
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In the bathroom, Arcadia checked on her clothes. She felt they were dry and cheered within her mind as she was finally free from the dress. She changed and fixed her hair into a ponytail, a few snowy strands falling and framing her face. Staring in the mirror, she poked at her sable horns. A heavy sigh left her lips as she straightened her outfit before leaving and searching for the others.

Arcadia found everyone at the bridge and smiled. Allura turned around with gleaming eyes. "Arcadia, I have something for you."

"Oh!" The draconian gasped, clapping her hands together in excitement. "What is it?"

Allura walked over with something in her hands, earning a curious glance from Arcadia. The altean opened her palm and smiled as she showed the girl two golden bands. "I've been meaning to give these to you for some time now."

Arcadia accepted the gift with a hint of confusion. "What are they?"

"They're communicators. They work just like my earrings, but they expand when you transform to prevent them from breaking." Allura took the golden bands and placed them on Arcadia's horns.

"So, they'll grow when I change?" Arcadia messed with the golden bands as they fit perfectly on her horns.

"Yes. You can also use them to communicate your thoughts. It'll be most helpful when you're in your second form."

"Really?!" Arcadia asked excitedly before trying it. "Does it work?" Everyone heard her voice over the comms and she couldn't hide her excitement as she hugged Allura. "I love them! Thank you!"

"Now you'll be able to communicate with us," Shiro added.

"That'll make missions much easier since I can't talk in my second form. But now, I can use my thoughts to talk with you all over the comms. I'll be even more helpful!" Arcadia chants.

"You're already a big help," Pidge stated with a smile.

Arcadia rushes over and hugged the greed paladin tightly. "Aw. Thanks, Pidge."

"We'll be arriving at the Balmera soon. Liberating these Balmerans from Zarkon's grasp will not be easy," Allura informs the others as she returns to command.

"So, what's the plan? We go in there and just... pow, pow, pow! And free the prisoners?" Lance asked, forming guns with his fingers.

Keith glanced at him in confusion. "What was that noise?"

Lance smirked. "Laser guns."

"No, Lance, I think you mean..." Hunk imitates his own version of lasers. "Pow!"

"That sounds like fireworks," Lance said.

"Technically, they're more like..." Pidge formed a gun with her fingers. "Ba-choo, ba-choo, ba-choo!"

"Okay, enough with the bad sound effects. Besides, it's more like... blam, blam, blam!" Shiro was on one knees, making his own imaginary gun with his fingers.

Keith stared at their leader in disbelief. "What?"

"You're crazy," Pidge added.

"No way," Lance denied.

"Wrong," Hunk said.

"This is quite amusing," Arcadia giggled.

"Paladins, focus," Allura said.

"Besides, we can't just shoot at the galra. This Balmera, it's, like, alive. And from what we've seen, it doesn't look very good," the yellow paladin sighed.

Coran nodded in agreement. "Yes, it's an atrocity what the galra have been doing to this grand beast. Stealing its crystals, its very life force, without ever performing the energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it."

"After seeing Shay's people enslaved, it made me realize how bad Zarkon really is. And we're the only ones who can stop him." The sorrow in Hunk's tone made everyone feel melancholic.

"Okay, so we can't go into the tunnels guns blazing. Plan B—we figure out how to draw the galra up to the surface and battle them out there," Shiro stated matter-of-factly.

Hunk voiced in as an idea came to mind. "Wait, I know. If we attack all of this big mining stuff on the surface, the galra troops will have to come out to defend it. Then we beat them up, head down to the tunnels, Voltron saves the day."

"But how will we know how many are left in the tunnels?" Keith inquired.

"We can track the galra and the balmerans using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology." Allura showed an image of the device on the screen.

"Oh, BLIP tech!" Pidge fixed her glasses as she received a confusing glance from Allura. "It's an acronym."

"One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the shafts on each side. Then we'll be able to see where the galra and the balmerans are. There are already sensors built into your suits," Allura said.

Pidge offered to take the job. "I can do it. I just modified the green lion with the invisible maze's cloaking ability. I should be able to fly around unnoticed."

Coran pulled up an image and showed the paladins and Arcadia. "That's their main power generator. If you take that down, it will severely weaken their defenses."

"We'll stay in cloud cover and give tactical support. With the castle's defenses weakened from Sendak's crystal, we won't be of much help to you," the princess exclaimed.

"I'll take out the power generator. Keith, Lance, Hunk, you take out these big mining rigs around the area. Arcadia, do you think you could draw their fire away from the mines?" Shiro asked the draconian.

"Leave it to me," she replied.

"Yeah! Okay, let's do this! Let's go kick some alien butt!" Hunk cheered.

As everyone headed to their lions, Arcadia followed Pidge and used her hangar as an exit. As she jumped out of the castleship, her body sailed through the air until she transformed and flapped her wings. She found the cannons just as she heard Lance's voice over the comms. "You think the balmerans will have a parade for us after we've freed everybody?"

"It's not about the glory, Lance. It's about freeing prisoners from Zarkon," Keith scoffs.

"Keith's right, Lance."

Arcadia's voice took over the comms, causing Lance to jump in his seat at the sudden fright. "No, I know. I know. But still. When they—" He was interrupted by the lasers and Arcadia quickly diverted their attention to her.

The dragon roared, signaling Shiro as she drew their fire away from the paladins. "This is it. Get your heads in the game. Remember, the Balmera is a living creature. Make sure you pinpoint only the galra installations and not its surface."

Arcadia dodged the lasers as she watched the others attack the mining rigs. Over the comms, she heard Pidge. "All sensors delivered."

Keith fired at one of the rigs and gasped as he saw the rig melt. "Whoa! Did you guys just see that? I got fire power!"

"Hey! I want that!" Lance shouts with a pout.

The rig Keith had destroyed began collapsing. The red paladin realized his mistake and gasped. "Oh, no!"

The yellow lion appeared and tried to stop it from falling and injuring the Balmera. Hunk used his lion to try and push the rig up and away from the planet. "Hey, we can't let this thing hurt the Balmera."

Lance heard his lion purr around him. "I think my lion knows what to do!" The blue paladin fired a blue laser and it froze the falling structure. "Aw, snap! These rays are super cool, just like me!"

"Great job, team!" Shiro chants.

"Where are the troops? We've destroyed their only means of protection and their only generator," Arcadia said.

"They're not coming to the surface," Keith added.

"Yeah, I remember seeing a lot of galra guys down in the mines," Hunk said.

"I don't like this..."

"Neither do I," Keith said.

Then, Allura contacted the paladins and Arcadia. "We've located a hangar full of galra fighters just below the surface. Someone has to take those out before they can launch."

Shiro grimaced at the news. "They're luring us down, but we have no choice. Keith, Lance, Arcadia, you guys hit the hangar. Hunk, head to the prison to rescue Shay and the other balmerans. Pidge and I will track down the galra soldiers."

Keith accepted Shiro's orders. "Yes, sir."

"Ten-four," Lance answered.

The green paladin nodded. "On it."

"Let's do this!" Chants the yellow paladin.

Arcadia follow the red and blue lions to one of the many mineshafts. She landed beside the mechanical beasts and transformed. "The hangar isn't far. Let's go!"

Arcadia, Keith, and Lance ran down the mineshaft to find the hangar. As the draconian spotted the hangar, she saw sentries on the prowl. She grabbed Keith and Lance, dragging them behind cover to avoid the enemies' line of sight. "We've got trouble."

"The entire hangar's only being guarded by a few sentries. Let's go!" Keith went to storm off, but Lance grabbed and pushed him back into cover.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Cool your jets, Keith! Don't you remember that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?"

"Oh, right," Keith said.

"Yeah, so we can't just blow things up like a psycho."

"Oh, you got a better idea?" Keith scoffed.

"I do. We sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors. That'll trap the ships in."

"That... actually is a better idea."

"Aw, look at the two of you getting along," Arcadia cooed, poking their cheeks in amusement. Both boys blushed and avoided the draconian's soft gaze. "Anyway, let's find a way into the control room and close the hangar."

"How're we gonna get in there?" Keith wondered.

Arcadia pointed upward with a smirk. "There's bound to be a vent. We'll use that to enter the control room without alerting the sentries."

Keith and Lance agreed with the idea and searched for a vent. Luckily, they found one and Arcadia tore off the grill. Lance smirks as he gestures his hands to the vent. "Ladies first."

Keith knew what Lance was trying to achieve and grabbed the blue paladin. "Then, you better get going."

"Hey!" Lance shouts as Keith tosses him into the vent. Arcadia placed a hand over her mouth as she started laughing. The red paladin smiled faintly at the gentle sound before heading into the vent. The draconian followed suit and crawled through the vent behind Keith. The cold metal under her knees and hands sent a small shiver down her spine as she could hear the sentries just below them prowling the hangar for possible targets.

Eventually, they reach the vent just above the control room. Keith used his sword to create an opening and dispose of the sentry guarding the main console. Once the enemy crumpled to the floor, the trio hopped down and landed in a crouch to prevent the sentries in the hangar from spotting them.

Lance eyes Keith as he hovered over the console. "Keep an eye out for those guards. I'll see if I can find a way to shut the hangar doors." The blue paladin types away on the keyboard as he tries to make sense of the foreign language. "Uh... Hmm. Nope. Maybe. Uh... Uh... Mm..."

"Uh, Lance?" Arcadia whispers.

"I don't know what I'm doing here. It's all galra gibberish," Lance groans.

Keith intervenes and examines the console. "Let me see." The boy spies a handprint scanner and placed his own hand on it. The hangar doors close, preventing the galra fleet from deploying.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Lance asked in amazement.

"I... just put my hand on the handprint," Keith answers honestly.

"Talk about handy," Arcadia comments in a whisper, grinning at her own joke.

"That was a terrible joke," Keith comments, unable to contain his own smirk.

"Yeah, I know. That's what makes it funny. Terrible jokes are the funniest of all jokes."

Over the comms, everyone heard Shiro's voice. "They're drawing us into an ambush, but we don't have a choice if we want to save Shay. We have to follow. Lance, Keith, Arcadia, get to the core. I think we're going to need everyone together to get through this firefight."

"Copy that. We're on our way," Lance responds.

Keith destroyed the console with his sword as they left the control room. Lance blasted the door controls as we left and headed further down the mineshaft.

As they rounded a corner, more sentries were spotted and blocked their path. The enemy raised their guns and fired at the trio. Keith grabbed Arcadia's hand and pulled her behind a pillar to avoid being hit. As the bullets hit the Balmera, the entire planet shook. Small bits of rubble fell, catching the sentries' attention. "This is not good," Arcadia said.

"Their shooting is destroying the Balmera. We gotta do something," Keith said.

A strange, eerie sound resonates throughout the mineshaft as the planet shook. Arcadia placed her hand against the wall, noticing a faint glow. "What is that?" She mumbled to herself.

"Well, we can't shoot back. It'll just make it worse." Lance began making random gestures, confusing Keith and Arcadia. The draconian looked around and found a ladder. She tugged on Keith's arm and gestured to what she found.

"Good find," he whispered to her. Keith grabbed Lance's attention and conveyed his plan to the blue paladin with a single gesture. The Cuban boy understood and nodded as Arcadia and Keith ascended the ladder. He jumped out and waved his arms, taunting the sentries to provide a distraction. Lance summoned his shield with a yelp when the machines fired at him. Keith and Arcadia ambush the sentries from above, catching them off-guard.

The draconian leaped onto the shoulders of one sentry and placed her hands on his head, delivering a shock to its system and frying its software. Her spell created a chain reaction to the remaining sentries that Keith didn't strike down. Arcadia backflipped off the sentry before it collapsed to the ground.

"You've gotta teach me that," Keith said as he met Arcadia's golden gaze in astonishment.

"Maybe I will," Arcadia giggled. "C'mon, let's go. The core must be close if they're so many sentries here."

"Hey! Wait up, guys!" Lance yells as Keith and Arcadia take off down the mine.

Lance, Keith, and Arcadia reach the core where the others were waiting. "Where are the galra? If this is an ambush, they should be here waiting for us," Shiro said, scanning the area. Then, all the exits closed behind them, earning a gasp from Shiro and Arcadia.

"Not an ambush. More like a trap," Hunk said.

"Whatever it is, keep your guard up," Keith said, his voice low.

"The galra, they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera," Shay informed the paladins and the draconian.

"How?" Pidge asked the one question everyone was thinking.

Shay shook her head. "I know not. But they set this trap just for you. I was the bait."

"Who could have possibly known that we were heading here to save Shay?" Shiro inquired with no one coming to mind.

Hunk's expression fell. "Rolo! Those liars must have told Zarkon."

"That doesn't matter right now. All that does is how to find a way out," Arcadia said.

"Arcadia's right. We have to figure out how to get out of here," Shiro stated.

"Wait!" Lance screams out. "We have a giant castleship hovering in the sky." The boy contacts the princess in hopes she could help them. "Allura, can you please come get us?"

Keith peered at Lance from the corner of his eye. "How do you expect her to do that, genius?"

"I don't know, maybe they got teleporters or something."

"Altean technology is advance, but it's not that advance," the snowy-haired girl exclaimed.

"We're quite occupied at the moment!" Allura grunted through the comms. "We're completely surrounded by galra ships and we're taking heavy fire!"

From the link, they could hear the castle's alarms blaring and Coran's worried shouting. "Princess, our particle barrier won't last much longer!"

"Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can!"

"This is it! We're going to die in here. I can say bye-bye to that parade," Lance whines, pursing his lips.

"Get it together, guys. Allura, we'll get there as soon as we can," Shiro said, glancing around at his teammates.

"Arcadia, you're the alchemist slash dragon thingy here! Do something!" Lance shouted at said girl.

"Hey, don't yell at her!" Keith yelled back with a sharp glare.

Arcadia placed herself between the two boys before they could argue. "If I use my alchemy, I could hurt the Balmera. And with my second form, there's not enough room in here to transform."

"Perhaps my people can help us get out. This is how we communicate. The Balmera senses our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnels," Shay spoke up, diverting everyone's attention to her. She placed her hand on the Balmera's core, creating a strange, blue glow.

"Wait," Arcadia said. "That's the same glow I saw when I placed my hand against the mineshaft wall."

Shay opened her eyes and glanced at Arcadia. "Your strong tie to alchemy allows you to communicate with the Balmera. You fear your alchemy will hurt our planet, but it is not true. In fact, your gift may help boost the Balmera and stop its pain for a short amount of time."

"If it'll help, what do I do?" Arcadia asked.

"Place your hands on the core and send a shock through the Balmera."

"That sounds like it would do more damage than anything."

Shay smiles at Arcadia. "It will be fine."

The draconian nervously glanced at the core before placing her hands on it. She inhaled deeply and then casted her spell. Electricity traveled through the core, sending an electrical shock across the entire planet. The Balmera's groaning died down along with the rumbling as Arcadia's spell worked. She stepped away from the core and Shay smiled at her. "Thank you."

"Paladins, do you copy?" Allura asked over the comm link. "There's a battle cruiser locked onto us. If it fires with its ion cannon, I don't know if we can survive."

Lance contacted her back immediately. "We're trying, Allura. Shay's pressing her hand against a wall, which apparently sends vibrations to the other rock people, who vibrate back or something? Hand talking? I guess the answer to your question is, "Yes, we copy.""

"Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?" Shiro questioned just as the door was destroyed.

Shay gasped with a smile. "Rax!"

"We must make haste. We know a shortcut through the tunnels," Rax said.

"Allura, stand by. We're on our way up," Shiro's said.

"Paladins, hurry! They're taking off with the lions!" The princess yells.

The paladins rush out of the mines and to their lions. Arcadia followed and changed the moment she was outside. "Guys, did everyone make it to their lions in time?" Shiro asked the other paladins.

"Come on, Shiro. Who you think you're dealing with, a bunch of amateurs?" Lance wasn't paying attention and his lion crashed into a mining rig, earning a yelp from the blue paladin.

Shiro smirked as he answered Lance with his own question. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"No," Lance whines.

"Let's go!" The black paladin bellows.

The five lions banded together and fought off the fleet of galra ships. The black lion used its jaw blades while Lance and Keith used their elemental powers. Hunk used his lion's jaw to crush and toss aside a few ships, but he was distracted and failed to notice the ships above him. "Hunk, watch out!" Pidge flew over and protected the yellow lion with her shield.

"Got you covered!" Keith used his laser and melted the ships. Arcadia flew overhead and destroyed a handful of shops that were targeting the three lions. Keith smiled at the sight of her. "Thanks for having our backs."

"Don't thank me yet. We've still have plenty other of ships to handle."

"Phew! Thanks, guys!" Hunk sighed in relief.

Allura's voice cut brought their joyful moment. "Paladins, I need you immediately! Five more ticks and we're finished!"

"Okay, team, let's form Voltron!" Shiro yells.

"Yeah!" The rest of the paladins responded.

Arcadia flew a few feet away as the five lions formed Voltron. While they transformed, she flew out of the atmosphere to help Allura and Coran.

"What can I do to help?" Arcadia asked as she took out the ship's closest to the castle.

"Is it possible for you to destroy the ion cannon?" Allura questioned.

"I'll get it done." Arcadia flew toward the war ship and targeted the ion cannon. She inhaled deeply before releasing a stream of fire. Fighters fell victim to her flames as they tried to protect their fleet.

"You can breathe fire?!" She heard Lance scream over the link. She saw Voltron had entered space and was taking down ships left and right.

"Is it really that shocking?" Arcadia asked the blue paladin.

"All the fairytales I've read that contain dragons always mention they breathe fire," Pidge stated.

"Yeah, but still!" Lance retorts.

"I can create almost any element with simple manipulation. It's pretty much the basis of alchemy."

"How come you haven't used it 'til now?" Keith questioned.

"This is the first time in ten thousand years that I've used alchemy. Excuse me if I'm a little rusty."

"Oh... right..." Keith admits with slight embarrassment.

"Everyone, focus!" Shiro shouted at his team. Voltron flew under the ship to avert the ion cannon from the castle. Arcadia flew to the top of the cannon and used her talons to slice through the metal of the ship. Once the castle was safe from the ion cannon, Arcadia landed on it and sent a shockwave through the weapon. She quickly flew off and watched as it exploded. Then, the castle fired its blaster and it hit its target. Seeing the danger of the situation, Voltron and Arcadia evacuated the area as the war ship exploded. The massive explosion wiped out the entire fleet, leaving no ship to survive.

"Yeah!" Hunk and Keith cheered.

"Nice shot, Princess!" Pidge applauses Allura.

"Yeah! The parade's back on!" Lance jubilates.

"Lance, there will be no parade!"

"Oh, c'mon, Arcadia! At least let me dream!" The Cuban boy whines.

"Still doesn't change the fact that there won't be a parade."

"Mission accomplished," Keith said.

"And just in the tick of time. The castle's defenses are battered and will need to fully recharge." Allura was relieved, but it didn't last when the alarms were triggered. "Huh?"

"There's an unknown object incoming! It's about to crash into the Balmera!" Coran shouts.

Everyone watched in fear as something entered the Balmera's atmosphere and crashed. "What the heck is that?" Lance muttered

Shiro couldn't hide the fear in his voice. "Trouble."