"Wait," Keith stopped everyone before they began brainstorming plans to stop Zarkon. "There's something I need to tell you all."

Arcadia already knew what he was going to say. She stood next to him, taking his hand within hers and squeezing it gently. She offered him a reassuring smile, which brought warmth and comfort to him.

Keith inhaled deeply before exhaling. He decided to not beat around the bush and come straight out with what he learned. "So... I'm half galra."

Everyone—minus Arcadia, Shiro, and Kolivan—gasped at the revelation. Allura's expression immediately changed to one full of hatred. The others weren't as wounded by the information as the princess was.

"Whoa! Hold the phone!" Lance shouted, slicing through the thick cloud of silence in the room. "How long were you planning on keeping this from us?"

"Lance," Arcadia sighed, coming to her boyfriend's aid. "He only learned it an hour ago."

"Oh..."

Allura casted a glare in Keith's direction. "The galra have done horrible things."

Arcadia couldn't stand the princess' sudden change in demeanor toward Keith. She released his hand and stepped toward her best friend. "This must stop, Allura. I understand your hatred toward the galra, but you cannot define an entire race by the actions of individuals. The moment I landed on Altea, you didn't judge me for the actions of my people. You judged me for who I was, not by my race. What makes this situation with Keith any different?"

"Your people didn't destroy my home or countless of other civilizations!" Allura shouted in response.

"We destroyed our own home!" Arcadia yelled back. "If the core hadn't destabilized, my people would be the ones terrifying the universe alongside the galra! Your hatred has blinded you for too long! You're acting like a child, not a princess. If you let this go on, you'll lose even more than you already have."

Allura gritted her teeth before she snapped. "You know nothing of how I've suffered! You will never know how much I've lost because of the galra! You may have lost your home planet, but you still haven't lost as much as me! Your parents never even loved you!"

"Allura!" Pidge shouted in disbelief.

Arcadia's eyes widen at hearing the princess' words. She couldn't believe she struck a blow so low below the belt. She inhaled deeply to keep herself calm and hold the tears at bay. "I never expected you to be the one to use my past against me someday. Guess I was wrong."

The princess clenched her fists by her sides before storming out of the room. They all watched her leave, no one budging to chase after her.

Arcadia kept her back to the others, a few tears cascading down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the heel of her palm before pulling herself back together, but she still refused to face the other. "I'm sorry you all had to see that. It seems anger has gotten the best of me and Allura."

"Are you... okay?" Pidge asked. "I can't believe Allura said that."

"I can't believe it, either." Arcadia stared down at the floor, a few snowy strands falling over her shoulders. "Regardless, we need to figure out a plan to stop Zarkon. We'll fill Allura in later." She left the red lion's hangar and headed to the bridge.

Keith was the first to chase after her and managed to stop her before she reached the bridge. He wasn't sure how to express his feelings in words and opted to hug her instead. He held her tightly in his arms, his heartbeat racing due to how happy he was. Out of everything that's happened to him in the past year, she was the best out of all. Even after learning he's part galra, she accepted and stood up for him without questioning him.

Snuggled tightly in Keith's arms, Arcadia wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to rest his head on her shoulder. "You know I'll always accept you, right?"

"I know..." He mumbled into her shoulder. "You already proved that five minutes ago."

She giggled, twirling a few stands of his hair around her finger. "Give Allura some time. She needs to cool off a little bit."

"Are you really sure you're okay? Y'know, with what Allura said?"

"I'm upset that she brought up my parents, but I know it was only because she was angry. I'm sure the rift between us will be sewn up in a few days and we'll both be back to our usual selves." Keith accepted her words and went to pull away, but she stopped him by wrapping her arms around his neck more tightly. "Nope. You're not going anywhere until I'm satisfied with this hug. We might be here for a while."

Keith sighed, but he snaked his arms back around her waist. "We better not be here for hours."

"I was thinking more along the line of days, not hours," she snickers. "Or maybe I'll just wrap myself around you and just let you carry me everywhere until I'm done hugging you."

"Yeah—no. I don't think so."

<————————<<<<<<<<

Hours have passed since planning began. Many ideas were thrown out and replaced with new ones. The paladins, Kolivan, Arcadia, and Coran were busy brainstorming. Eventually, Allura joined them after having been able to calm down. She still refused to look at either Keith or Arcadia. Then, Antok arrived at the castleship to join in on the planning.

Hunk fell asleep three hours ago and was snoring as he sat in his seat. Arcadia waltzed over to the sleeping boy and poked his cheek, watching as a bubble formed from his mouth and popped, which startled him awake. "What? What'd I miss?"

"Oh, nothing important," Lance shrugged with a smirk. "We've just figured out a way to defeat Zarkon."

"Really? I dozed for ten minutes, and you guys figured out how to defeat the forces of evil?" He asked as Arcadia continued to poke his cheek.

"You've been asleep for three hours," Pidge informs the yellow paladin.

Hunk looked at the alchemist from the corner of his eye before poking her cheek in return and then redirected his gaze to the projection of Zarkon's command ship with wide eyes.

Shiro crosses his arms as he eyed the projection in front of him. "I think we've got something here. It's dangerous and there are a lot of moving parts, but if we can coordinate everything just right, then—"

"Zarkon's reign will be at an end, and the savagery that's poisoned our universe can finally be cleansed," Kolivan finished the paladin's sentence. "You've done it, Shiro."

"We did it together." Shiro and Kolivan clasp each other's arms, signifying their trust in one another.

"As long as we all stick to the plan, it should work," Allura stated.

"It will work," Kolivan responds. "Perhaps then, you'll learn that not all galra are as bad as Zarkon."

Allura looks over at Keith, who is silently staring at the base of the projector. "I hope not."

"Ulaz was right to trust you all," Antok commented.

"He sacrificed everything to bring us together. Let's honor him by taking down Zarkon," Shiro replied.

"So, what's the plan?" Hunk asked as he continued to assault Arcadia's cheek with his finger after their poking war escalated.

Lance runs to the center of the group, accompanied by imaginary fanfare. He begins to explain the plan, using exaggerated movements and acting out various parts. "The plan is amazing! First, we infect Zarkon's ship with a virus. Then, we make an extra-large wormhole and lure Zarkon inside of it, zapping him a bajillion light-years away. Then, when he pops out on the other side, all like, "Oh, why doesn't my ship work?"" Next, he transitions from his mocking tone to a normal one. "Voltron kicks his butt! Pew, pew, pew! Womp, womp, womp! Huh! Hi-yah!" The boy then tries to impersonate Shiro's voice. "I'll form the head!" Finally, back to his normal voice. "That's what you say, Shiro. Yeah, yeah. Yeah! We won for all time!"

Arcadia stepped away from Hunk and clapped for Lance's performance. "Horrible acting, but entertaining nonetheless."

"Why, thank you, milady." Lance bowed playfully with a smirk, happy to hear she was entertained by him.

"Wow. So, this is it," Hunk said.

"I guess the only question is when do we strike?" Pidge inquired.

Coran pulls up an interface and presses a few buttons, causing the projector to show the inner workings of a teludav. "As soon as we build a teludav big enough to wormhole Zarkon's ship."

"Oh, man. The teludav again?" Hunk whines. "Does that mean we need more scaultrite?"

"That's just one of the many things we'll need," Allura explains.

"Am I, uh... Am I sensing a trip back to the space mall here?" The boy raised a brow.

"Please say no, Coran," Arcadia begged the royal advisor. "The second trip was as worst as the first."

"I'm afraid not. This is gonna take a lot more scaultrite than we can find at any Unilu shop. For this plan to succeed, we're gonna need to split up," Coran responded.

The paladins, Arcadia, Allura, and Coran head to the yellow lion's hangar where they split up into their respected groups.

"We all have a task to do. Keith, Hunk, Arcadia, you'll be in charge of getting the scaultrite. If any one of us fails, the entire plan fails." While Coran continues speaking, Keith and Shiro clasp hands and embrace each other in a hug. Hunk and Pidge shake both arms rapidly, both crying. Shiro and Keith separate and the younger boy catches Allura's gaze. The princess quickly looks away, her expression changing to one of contempt.

Keith, Arcadia, and Hunk head into the yellow lion. Hunk looks back at the others with a nervous smile on his face while Keith stares at the ground as if ashamed. This didn't go unnoticed by Arcadia and she felt her heart ache. She wrapped her arm around his and waved farewell to the others before disappearing into the lion's cockpit beside the two boys. Outside the lion, Pidge can be seen waving and the others see them off with fond smiles. The yellow lion leaves the castle, entering a wormhole.

Once reaching the other side of the wormhole safely, Hunk released a small groan. "Why does Allura get to take a leisurely visit to the Balmera while we have to fly into the belly of a giant space worm to get scaultrite?"

"Oh," Arcadia smirked. "I'm sensing a small amount of jealousy. You must really want to see Shay again."

"Wha—no, I... Why would..." Hunk looked around nervously before sighing. "Maybe..."

Arcadia patted him on the shoulder. "You'll get to see her again."

"I know. I just really wanted to be the one to head to the Balmera."

"You heard Coran. Building a huge teludav isn't easy. Everyone has a job to do and this is ours," Keith said.

"But I always get the worst jobs. Go to a galra-occupied planet to get my lion. Go to a galra-occupied Balmera to get a crystal. Go into a belly of a beast with the only galra alien team member and a space dragon," Hunk whines.

Keith crosses his arms. "I'm not an alien."

"Well, you're kind of an alien. You're way more alien than me. You're at least some alien. I'm-I'm none alien. Then again, Arcadia's a hundred percent alien and she's also the last of her kind."

Keith sighs, moving toward the front of the cockpit. "Let's just concentrate on the job here."

"Yeah." Hunk was silent before reverting back to the subject. "Was-Was your mom the alien? Your grandpa? How galra are you?"

"I don't know."

"Did the Blade of Marmora, like, teach you the secret handshake, or something?"

Keith was becoming frustrated. "No. No one said anything."

"Hunk..." Arcadia grumbled after being forced to listen to the yellow paladin's motor mouth. "Now is really not the time for this. Keith is still Keith. He hasn't changed."

Hunk still wasn't satisfied and kept hurling questions at Keith. "The Blade of Marmora... they're real tight-lipped, aren't they? I get that your society is secret, but is everything a secret?"

Finally, he snaps. "Okay, look, it's bad enough that Allura hates me now. Can you just lay off?"

"Allura doesn't hate you. You just need to give her time to accept the fact that you're galra, the race that destroyed her entire planet and all of her people." He frowns and blinks. "Yeah, she might hate you a little bit. But at least Arcadia doesn't. That's something, right?"

Keith looked over at said girl as she tampered with the video Coran had provided them. He looked away when she turned and caught him staring, his cheeks slightly turning red. "Let's just watch the video Coran uploaded and stay on task. We need to find out how to collect this stuff."

"I think I've got it working," Arcadia said. She taps a button on the console, which transforms into a video screen. It glitches at first before settling onto the image of a much younger Coran in the Castle of Lions with cheerful music playing in the background.

The advisor raises his hand in greeting. "Hello, brave Altean."

"No way," Hunk grins, holding back his laughter. "Is that Coran?"

"Oh!" Arcadia gasped in excitement. "I remember when he made this! It was a few days after I landed on Altea."

"Are you in it?" Keith curiously asked.

She shook her head. "No, but I stole the recording device because I was so fascinated with it." She looked at Keith, seeing his brows raised. "What? I was nine."

They turned their attention back to the video, watching as the young Coran spoke. "So, you're about to go into the belly of a weblum to harvest scaultrite. Good for you!" He points to his right, where a screen appears showing the various items he describes. "Scaultrite is an important substance, with thousands of commercial and industrial uses, including fabrication foam, insect night vision goggles, teludav—"

Static corrupts the visual and audio of the video, which worried the trio. "Uh..." Hunk muttered.

"—anti-fungal klanmüirl lotion and other such lubricants."

"What's wrong with the video?" Keith inquired.

"It's ten thousand years old. It's probably corroded."
Hunk taps a few buttons on his console and the static fades.

"I could go on for days. But you've got a weblum to enter and some scaultrite to collect. Oh, look! There's a weblum now. Hello, big fella!" Coran greets a cartoon weblum as it enters the frame.

"Hey, Coran! I'm off to eat some planets. There's one now! Nyum, nyum, nyum, nyum, nyum!" Just as it quickly appeared, the cartoon weblum disappeared.

"We'll see you soon! As you probably remember from school, the weblum is an enormous creature and an integral part of keeping our universe functioning. It survives off of the—" Static. "—left over from dead planets. It then reconverts the quintessence remnants by—" More static interrupts the video. "—becoming the building blocks of new solar systems. Incredible, isn't it?" The video flickers again before even more static ruins it.

Keith, Arcadia, and Hunk share nervous glances, both boys whimpering while the girl tried to rid the video of the static. She pressed a few buttons and the video stabilized.

"Of course, these are no gentle giants. They're actually giants that are quite deadly, which leads to—" Coran's voice becomes distorted, causing Arcadia to grimace. "—rule number one. It's an important one, so listen closely. Stay away from its—" More static. "You got that?"

Hunk shook his head in worry. "No. No, I didn't."

"It's like a rhyme. Say it with me. Stay away from its—" The video cut off, leaving the trio unable to hear Coran's rhythmic warning.

"Oh, come on!" Hunk yelled in frustration, desperately trying to stabilize the video.

"Other things to remember include avoiding the poisonous—" Static. "—eye sockets—" Static. "—could lead to certain death!"

"Ugh, this is ridiculous," Arcadia grumbled, slamming her hands against the console in frustration.

"You know what he said, right?" Hunk asked the girl with a hopeful tone. "Please tell me you do!"

"Sorry, Hunk. I stole the recording device, but I never watched the video," the alchemist apologizes.

The paladin whimpered, leaning back in his seat. He stared out the eyes of his lion in defeat. When he realized they were entering a debris field, his eyes widen. "Whoa. What are those?"

"They look like... dead planets," Keith said, watching as they soared by large and small pieces of debris.

"That's strange. The charts I'm looking at show these planets should still be thriving. Wow. What do you think happened to them? Asteroid strike?" Hunk looked over at Arcadia to ask if she knew, but he saw her staring at the dead planets with wide, teary eyes. "H-Hey, are you okay?"

Keith looked over and saw a few stray tears stream down her face. He slowly took a few steps toward her and stopped when he stood right next to her. He wiped a tear off her left cheek, which caught her attention. She blinked a couple of times before wiping the tears herself. "Sorry. Did you say something, Hunk?"

"Uh..." The boy wasn't sure how to respond after seeing her cry.

Fortunately, Keith stepped in. "You're thinking about your planet, aren't you?"

Arcadia nodded, looking down at the floor of the cockpit. "Yes. When I turned twelve, I left Altea to see the remnants of Draconia. When I flew to where my home once was, all that was left were a few pieces. A weblum practically ate every piece. By the strange shapes and holes in the debris, I believe we've entered weblum territory. We better—"

"Look!" Hunk suddenly shouted as he pointed at something, frightening the couple.

A large creature floats by the yellow lion, alerting the three inside. Arcadia watched as it soared by without acknowledging them. "We've found our target."

"Guess that ancient altean weblum tracker put us right on the money," Keith commented.

All of a sudden, Hunk began to panic. "We gotta get out of here! We haven't watched the entire video yet! We don't know what to do!"

"Calm down, Hunk. We can do this," Arcadia said, patting him on the shoulder.

Keith nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We're not leaving. You fly, keep our distance. I'll skim through the video." He fast forwarded the video, searching for how they'd approach the giant worm-like creature.

"So, you've made it into the weblum's first stomach!"

"Rewind!" Hunk shouted.

"I know!" Keith hissed in response.

"So, you've identified a weblum. Great! Now, remember rule number one. Stay away from its face."

"Too late," Arcadia commented.

"Wait, that's rule number one? We broke rule number one!" Hunk shouted, staring at the creature's face. The weblum opens its mouth and begins pulling objects in. "Oh, no! What's it doing?"

"Get us out of the way, now!" Keith bellowed.

The weblum fires a large beam of energy, which the yellow lion manages to dodge. Hunk grunts as the beam begins to follow them, trying to stay out of its range of fire. It fires off another beam, this one closer to hitting the yellow lion.

Coran's voice filled the cockpit of the lion. "The weblum's natural defense—" Static. "—venomous laser, deadly acid—" Static. "—total annihilation—" Static. "—death monster—" Static. When it clears, the cartoon weblum has returned. "—to find its blind spot on the back of its neck, just below the gills."

"That's your way inside!" The cartoon weblum cheers. "If I can't see ya, I can't kill ya!"

"Talk about information overload, and we still missed a bunch of it," Arcadia groaned while rolling her eyes.

The yellow lion's alarm beeps rapidly. Hunk grunts, pulling the control levers and changing their course to head to the back of the weblum's neck. The metallic feline descends to land, but begins to bounce back and forth between the spikes on the weblum's back. "This isn't good. This isn't good!" Hunk yelled frantically.

The yellow lion crashes into one of the spikes and hits the weblum hard. Keith and Hunk groan while Arcadia gasps from the sudden impact, but the lion manages to right itself on its feet while skidding backward. Hunk uses the his lion's upgraded claws and armor to secure their position on the weblum's back. "We're attached to its back, in its blind spot."

"Good. We're going in," Keith announces.

"Wait, what do we do when we're inside the beast?"

Arcadia walks over to the video and plays it. "A quick recap of what to do when you're inside the beast. One, avoid things that want to kill you. Two, get to the third stomach and find the scaultrite gland. Three, activate the weblum's defense mechanisms and collect the excess material from the gland. That's the scaultrite!"

"Seems simple enough," the red paladin comments.

"Seems under-explained," Hunk said.

"Well, we can't complain. At least we know where to go. Even though the video's old, it's provided us exactly what we need," Arcadia stated.

"Come on," Keith said.

Hunk sighs and follows his friends out of the yellow lion. He hits the ground and loses his balance, beginning to spin with his jetpack pushing his momentum. While he was spinning, he screamed when he suddenly collided with something. "What was that?!"

"My wings," Arcadia responded through the comms. She grabbed Hunk's ankle and steadied him.

"Whoa," he gaped in amazement. He poked them and ended up being smacked in the head. "Ow!"

"No touching," the girl reprimands.

The group travels to the weblum's gills, where Hunk begins to flip over yet again, but manages to right himself without help this time. "Got it, got it." They head inside the weblum and descend safely.

Upon touching down, Hunk grunts as he steps on a bubble that pops underneath him. He lifts his foot up, revealing a mucus-like substance clinging to his boot. "Uh, yuck! What am I standing on? A mucus pocket? I do not like mucus! And is that steaming stomach acid? Lookit, right over there. Oh, man, I really hope I don't see any blood."

"Hunk! Knock it off. You're freaking yourself out," Keith said.

"No, standing inches away from a pus-bubble is freaking me out." He stomps on said pus-bubble to prove his point. The substance inside lands on the ground and begins to sizzle, causing him to rear back and cry out in disgust.

"Stop stepping in it!" Arcadia growled at the yellow paladin.

"Look," Keith exhales. "We're inside a disgusting worm. There's no way to sugarcoat it. We're gonna need that big brain of yours if we want to make it through. Will you be alright?" Hunk only groans in response. "I said, will you be alright?"

"Uh... Okay, okay." Hunk inhales deeply. "I'll be okay."

"Good." Keith puts a hand on Hunk's back. "I gotta be able to count on you." He begins walking away. "Besides, no one knows an explosive digestive tract like you."

Hunk tilts his head, then shakes it and holds his hands up as he watches Arcadia and Keith fly over to the next platform. "Wait, wait, wait. Did you just make a joke?" He chuckles lightly. "Seriously, that was a joke, wasn't it? You're saying I throw up a lot. I get it. It's funny. I do. Wow. Galra Keith is way funnier than regular Keith."

"Hunk," Arcadia snarled while glaring at the paladin as he joined them on the next platform. "Drop it."

"Okay, fine," he sighs.

Keith looked at the bubbling, yellow liquid not far from where they stood. "Okay, we need to find a way around the stomach acid."

"Huh?" Hunk stared at strange creatures beginning to enter the stomach through various holes.

"What are these things?" Keith watched as they floated toward him and the others.

"Not sure, but they kinda look like those little sea creatures you find on your planet," Arcadia comments. "Y'know, the ones with the tentacles and pointy head. Oh, I forget their name!"

"You mean squids?" Keith asked with an arched brow.

"Yes! That's what they're called. They're kinda cute when they're babies," she giggled. "I wonder what their purpose is?"

"Uh... Uh... I don't know. Maybe they're bacteria? Uh... Oh..." The creatures squeak as two of them land on Hunk's helmet. Another lands on his hand. "Wait, wait, wait. They seem friendly. Maybe they're good bacteria. They like me. They're—They're tickling me."

Arcadia could hear faint sizzling and looked at the creatures attached to Hunk, spotting a cloud of steam emitting from the areas they were latched on to. "Uh, Hunk?"

Hunk's eyes widen when he feels the tingling turn into an intense burning sensation. "Wait, that's not tickling! That's hot acid!" He screams, throwing the creatures off him. "They want to kill us! They want to kill us!"

Keith and Hunk summon their bayards while Arcadia readied an incantation as the creatures begin to surround them. "I think they're part of the creature's digestive system! They're trying to break down the food and we're the food!" Hunk shouted.

Arcadia went to attack a handful of the creatures, but they promptly floated around her to target the two paladins. "What the...?"

Keith grunts as he slices through a few of the creatures with his bayard. Hunk fires off several shots, but in doing so one of the creatures' residue splatters across his visor, effectively blinding him. "I can't see anything!" Hunk deactivates his bayard, stumbling backwards until he hits the wall and is pulled through it by the muscles.

"Hunk!" Keith and Arcadia shout.

"I'm here, surrounded by blood. I hate blood!" He shouts as he travels through the weblum's body.

"You've gotta find a way out of the circulatory system." Keith takes another swing with his bayard, but he is quickly backed up to a ledge over a pool of stomach acid. His eyes travel over to Arcadia, who was being ignored by the small squid-like creatures as she made her way over to him. He watched as she walked through them, her wings retracting into her back as she tossed a fireball at them. "Why're they ignoring you?"

She shrugged as she tossed another fireball at the creatures. "No idea, but we need to find a way to the third stomach."

More creatures poured out of the holes located around them, targeting Keith. The boy yanked her toward him and wrapped an arm around her waist as he contacted the yellow paladin. "Hunk! We're outnumbered here! Meet us in the third stomach!" Keith dematerializes his bayard before pulling Arcadia along toward the edge behind them. "Think you can cast a barrier?"

"Of course. What's your—hey!" She shouted as he ran to the edge and jumped. The alchemist swiftly placed a barrier around them before they dove into the stomach acid. They glance back as they sunk into the liquid, noticing the creatures trying to follow but refuse to submerge themselves in the stomach acid.

Arcadia examines her barrier and saw cracks forming. "We've gotta get out of this acid. The barrier won't last long."

Keith looks around and notices an exit point. "There," he points it out to her. "Think you can get use over there?"

"Let me try." Arcadia held up one of her hands and was able to guide them safely to the exit point just before the barrier shattered. They exit the stomach, screaming as they began to fall straight down.

With swift thinking, Arcadia released her wings and grabbed both of Keith's wrists. She was able to stop their descent and fly them over to a ledge large enough for them to stand on. Placing him gently down, she landed next to him and caught her breath.

"Thanks for the save," Keith sighed in relief once feeling solid ground under his feet.

"You really think I would let you fall?" The draconian questioned.

"Well, no, but..."

""But" nothing. I know you're still bothered by the fact you're half galra, but you need to know the way I see you hasn't changed one bit. Your view didn't change of me when you found out the girl you fell in love with on Earth was an alien. I mean..." She tugged on her horns and ears. "I've horns, pointy ears, reptilian eyes, and branchia. You weren't fazed by any of that. You're still the awkward, kinda shy, and hotheaded boy I met and fell in love with on Earth. Nothing has changed and nothing never will. I love you, Keith."

Keith couldn't deny how happy her words made him. His heart raced in his chest a mile a minute as her sweet and kind words continued to ring inside his head. He cleared his throat, trying to hide his embarrassment. "You express your feelings in the weirdest places..."

"Wha—no, I don't! I mean, I know we're currently inside a giant space worm, but all the other times I've expressed my feelings have been pretty normal places!" She pouted like a child, folding her arms across her chest and looking away from him. "Guess I'll keep my feelings to myself from now on."

"No, that's not what I was trying—" Keith fell silent when he saw a small glint from the corner of his eye. Looking over the ledge, he sees a person in a suit of armor within a pod that had been absorbed into the weblum. "What the—? Impossible."

The alchemist gazed down in the same direction. "Is that...?"

"Fly us down there. They need our help."

Arcadia did as Keith said and moved them from the ledge to the pod. He slices through the parts of the weblum keeping the pod shut, then prepares himself to strike again. "Don't move. We're here to help."
He thrusts his blade through the glass, cutting a hole large enough to pull the person out. He offers them a hand and pulls them out but notices the galra empire's insignia on their shoulder.

Arcadia gasped when she recognized the symbol. "That's—!"

Keith shoves them past him and immediately placed himself in front of Arcadia, reaching down and stealing the blaster from the stranger's belt in the process. They turn just in time for him to point their own blaster at them, eyes narrowing. "You're galra."

"What would a galra need with a weblum?" Arcadia asked, her words only being heard by Keith.

"Probably not something good," Keith responds, which confuses the stranger.

"Um, Keith?" Arcadia reaches out and tugs on his arm, her eyes widening as she watched the creatures from earlier emerge from the wall with an obnoxious squeaking sound. "We've got more company."

Keith looks up and watches as they begin to form one large group. He grimaced and lowered the blaster. "Not those things again."

"Maybe I could—?"

Arcadia flew up to confront the bacteria, but she didn't make it far before Keith latched onto her wrist. "Don't even think about it. They might attack you this time." She looked at the cluster of creatures before landing back on the pod.

The stranger suddenly opens a console, typing out a sequence. Keith watched with uncertainty as to what they were trying to accomplish. "What are you doing?" The pod begins to flash red as an alarm blares. The boy's eyes widen slightly when he realized what they wanted to accomplish. "You're turning this ship into a bomb."

"We need to move!" Arcadia shouted as the group of creatures suddenly splits off into a smaller channel and head straight for them. With Keith already gripping one of her wrists, she grabbed the other and hoisted him into the air. She flew him away from the pod alongside the stranger.

The creatures swarm the pod, which explodes only moments later. Keith frees one of his wrists from Arcadia's grasp and summons his shield to protect himself, her, and the stranger from the oncoming debris. The force of the explosion sent them through one of the walls.

Keith and Arcadia groan from the fall and start to push themselves up, the sound of running footsteps catching their attention.

The stranger tackles Keith, firing off a shot, but it goes wild. Both roll to their knees, coming up with the stranger's blaster pointed at him. Several shots fire off and he activates his shield, but they travel over his shoulder instead, destroying the bacteria creatures that approached from behind. "I guess you can keep your weapon," Keith huffs, deactivating his shield when he realizes they saved him.

The stranger and Keith failed to notice more creatures soaring toward them, but Arcadia caught their quick movements. She held out her hand and casted an incantation. The swarm of bacteria was encased in a sphere of light and lifted away from the two. The draconian snapped her fingers, resulting in the sphere's explosion. She sighed in relief when she noticed all the creatures had been dealt with. "What an annoying bunch..."

"That's the spell you were practicing earlier," Keith stated.

The girl nodded. "Yes, but I still don't have the control I desire. Hopefully with a little more practice, it'll be perfected."

"Don't push yourself," he replies.

She chuckles. "I'm supposed to be saying that to you. I can tell you're pushing yourself physically and mentally. You have others to lean on. Don't forget that."

"I know," he grumbled.

Suddenly, a part of the weblum opens and allows Keith, Arcadia, and the stranger to enter another area. What shocked the three was Hunk's sudden appearance.

Hunk couldn't hide the joy in his voice as he lands next to them. "Arcadia! Keith! You both made it! We all made it!" His eyes lock onto the stranger. "Who is this?"

"Someone we found. He doesn't talk much. Also, he's galra," Keith explained.

"What, do you guys all know each other?" He chuckled. "Are you sure we should be rescuing a galra soldier right now?"

"It's our job to save people, Hunk," Arcadia stated matter-of-factly.

"She's right," Keith said, agreeing with his girlfriend. "We're paladins of Voltron. We can't just leave people to die even if they are galra. Now, come on. Let's get what we came for and get out."

"Okay, well, that—that might be a problem, too. The scaultrite gland somehow secretes mucus, or saliva, or something gross, which becomes crystallized. The only problem is, I think that we have to trigger the weblum's defense mechanism," Hunk exclaimed.

"And how're we supposed to do that?" Arcadia pondered. "I don't think the video mentioned how."

All of a sudden, they heard a distant rumbling. The three exchanged glances just as more bacteria creatures begin to invade from the walls.

Keith groans at the sight. "Not again."

The rumbling increases in volume as the creatures quickly collect in one large group. A few smaller groups of the squid-like organisms begin attacking, but they dodge. Keith manages to slice through a large group, cutting them off from the center, and Arcadia used the same spell from earlier and took out handfuls of them. Hunk blasts a large hole out of the center that fills itself in within seconds. He screams as another group tries to attack him. "They're everywhere! Oh, whoa."

Areas in the walls begin to open, pulling out air and the bacteria creatures. Keith and Hunk both yell as they start getting pulled in as well, but manage to catch themselves. Arcadia cried out as she retracted her wings but was still dragged by the force. Before she was out of reach, Hunk was able to save her. Reaching up, she latched onto his arm as the force continued to tug on their bodies.

"I think this thing is getting rid of the excess gas produced from its multiple stomachs," Hunk said.

"What?" Keith and Arcadia harmonized.

"It's farting!" He laughs.

Keith grunts as the walls close again, allowing them to stand. "Hunk, what do we gotta do to get that scaultrite gland to goop?"

"Uh, oh. Uh... Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. "Stay away from its face." The blue laser. Ah! I know what to do!" He begins flying away from the couple and toward the central mass of bacteria creatures.

"Um, you've lost us, Hunk," Arcadia stated.

Hunk turns back to face Keith and Arcadia to explain. "If we want that third stomach gland to secrete the ooze, I need to get farted out of the weblum's butt and attack the face, getting it to fire its laser puke." He then strikes a heroic pose. "For the sake of the universe, I'll provoke the beast! You three stay here and get that scaultrite!"

"Hurry!" Keith bellows as the creatures begin to attack again. "I don't know how long we can hold these things off."

Hunk makes his way toward the center as the walls begin opening. He flies up and out of the weblum with a yell, leaving Keith and Arcadia alone with the strange galra to fight against the swarm of bacteria.

When Hunk found his way out of the weblum, he contacted his two teammates. "I'm out! Heading to my lion now."

"Make it snappy, Hunk. These things are persistent!" Arcadia shouted, zapping a handful of creatures. When their number became overwhelming, she called out to Keith and the stranger. "You two, over here!"

Seeing as the stranger couldn't hear Arcadia, Keith grabbed and dragged them to her. Once they were behind her, she placed a protective barrier around all three of them. The creatures assaulted the barrier, their acidic appendages attaching to the outside and trying to melt it in order to reach them.

Keith examines the barrier and saw small cracks forming from the acid. He promptly contacted his fellow paladin. "Hunk, whatever you're gonna do, do it now!"

"Roger that. Provoking giant space worm now," Hunk replies.

Before long, the entire barrier was covered with the creatures. Cracks webbed out, making Arcadia grit her teeth. She casted a second incantation and sent a shockwave of lightning through the barrier, shocking and frying many of the small adversaries. When she thought she'd bought some time, more creatures took the dead ones' places. "This isn't working!"

"Hunk!" Keith shouted desperately.

Over the comms, they could hear Hunk provoking the weblum. By the sound of his boisterous voice, things were going well on his end.

The bacteria creatures suddenly retreat and spots inside the scaultrite gland begin to glow. Keith gasps. "It's working! I think it's about to get hot in here."

Arcadia dispels the barrier, knowing it wouldn't protect them from the laser. Keith grabs her hand and uses his jet pack to drag her to a side alcove. The galra joins them and Keith activates his shield to protect them from the laser when it fires.

When the laser activates, the three press their bodies against the wall of the alcove they were hiding in as they felt the intense heat.

Once it passed, Arcadia sighed and slumped against the wall. "Dear Aethios... Is it over?"

"I think so," Keith exhaled, retracting his shield. They floated out of the alcove and saw the many beautiful blue shards floating around.

"We better start gathering."

Keith and Arcadia used the bags Coran had given them to collect the scaultrite. As they were gathering them, they received a transmission from Hunk. "Tell me you guys got the scaultrite."

"Grabbing it now," Keith informs the yellow paladin.

Keith and Arcadia continue filling the bags with scaultrite. When they finished filling several of them, they heard a weapon whir from behind them. They turn, seeing the stranger's blaster pointed at them.

Keith glared up at galra. "So, you're just like the rest of 'em."

The stranger takes one of the bags, turning and using their jets to make a quick escape.

"Hope Coran won't miss one bag of scaultrite," Arcadia comments.

"It'll be fine." Keith glanced at the numerous of bags filled to the brim. "It's gonna take us a few trips with all these bags."

"Not necessarily," she smirked. With the wave of her hand, all the bags were enveloped in a sphere of light. With a small twitch of her finger, the orb floated toward them. "See? Alchemy isn't just for destruction. It's good if you wanna avoid multiple trips back and forth if you have tons of things to carry."

Keith grinned in amusement before contacting Hunk. "We're coming out."

"On my way," the yellow paladin responds. Arcadia and Keith exit the weblum's body and head to the yellow lion. Once safely inside, Hunk looks behind them as they enter the cockpit. "Where's your buddy?"

"He's long gone by now, and he got a bag of scaultrite," Keith replies.

"What? Should we go after him?"

"No need. We should have enough scaultrite for the teludav," Arcadia responded.

"Yeah, and whatever the galra are planning won't matter after we defeat Zarkon," Keith added.

Hunk accepted both of their responses. "Copy that."

Keith steps forward, putting a hand on the back of Hunk's chair. "By the way, Hunk, you really came through in the clutch back there. Without you, the mission would have been a failure."

"Yep," Arcadia smiled. "You're the star of this mission, Hunk. You should be proud."

Hunk smiled at the couple. "Aw, thanks, space dragon, galra Keith. You're all right. I think turning galra has made you a better human and space dragon's always been cool."

Keith groans before yelling. "I didn't just turn galra!"