(A/n) Not my art. Found randomly on Google.

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Y/n's POV

After a while, we land on the planet. Looking around, this planet slightly reminded me of Earth. I followed Pidge and Shiro as we walked around, using a tracker that Coran gave us. I thought about the previous events as we walked. Soon, we came to a river.

"Look." Pidge points at the river shore. On the shore was a small boat, with the head of a lion carved in its bow. Suddenly, a sloth-looking creature appears and scares us. Somehow, Pidge ends up on Shiro's shoulders, while I was hiding behind the two. I looked at the alien. It seemed peaceful.

"It's just a...whatever that thing is." Pidge stutters. The sloth alien notices the device Pidge held, and grunts at us, gesturing to the boat.

"I think he wants us to get in his canoe." I say, looking at the others.

"Then I guess we should go." Shiro says.

"Uh..." Pidge looks at him.

"I've been locked up by aliens for a year. This is nothing." Shiro shrugs and walks to the canoe. Pidge and I follow. As we float by, little aliens appear, squeaking at us. I smile.

"I wonder if Hunk and Lance are having as good a time as us." Pidge says.

"They might be. Knowing Lance, they probably got sidetracked chasing some pretty alien girl." I comment. Pidge laughs. We sit in silence for a while. Then Pidge starts to fret.

"I know the Princess said this is supposed to be my Lion, but what if she's wrong? I mean, she's probably not wrong. She's a princess, but I'm not a pilot, even though I've always wanted to be a pilot. I mean, I read all the fighter manuals, but I never got to fly the simulator. But hey, I can't be that worse than Lance. He crashed all the time. But what if I get in there and it doesn't respond? What if I get in there and it's too big and my feet don't touch the pedals? What if there aren't any pedals?!" Pidge worries aloud. I look at the sloth alien and sigh.

"You're rambling. Listen...our commander on the Kerberos Mission is the smartest man I ever met, and he always said, 'If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a change to do something great.'" Shiro says. I turn to smile at him. I look back and see that we had arrived. We climb out of the canoe and walk up steps to a mound of boulders and vines. Shiro grips Pidge's shoulder.

"Go. Be great." He smiles. Pidge smiles at him and starts to climb. I look around as he went after the Green Lion. I notice something on the ground, carved into the rock. Bending down, I run my hand over it. The carving glows orange. I look up and spot more carvings, all glowing orange. I turn back to Shiro, who nods. I start running over the path of orange carvings. They lead me to a large cave. Peering in, I don't see anything at first. Then, I heard purring. Smiling, I enter the cave. Near the back, the Orange Lion stood, force field activated. It was definitely bigger than the Blue Lion, but I didn't care. I walked up to the Lion.

"Hi, I'm Y/n. I'm your Paladin. It's great to finally meet you." I grin as the barrier lowers. The Lion stands, lowering its mouth to the ground. Smiling, I walk into the cockpit. Inside was the exact design of the Blue Lion's cockpit, but adjusted to my height. I sat into the chair, gasping slightly when it moved forward into place. I grip the handles when I "hear" the Lion speak to me. I understand what I need to do. I thrust the handles forward and the Orange Lion runs out into the sunlight. Letting out a cry of triumph, I spot the Green Lion, near where Shiro stood. He and Pidge were talking when my Lion stopped next to the Green Lion.

"Y/n! You found the Orange Lion!" Shiro hugs me when I step out. Pidge was smiling from ear to ear.

"How about we get back and find out how the others are doing?" I ask. They both nod. Just then, Allura's voice comes over our communication device.

"Paladins, please hurry back. I can't hold the wormhole much longer." Pidge flies Shiro back to the pod, and, together, we fly back through the wormhole back to the castle. As we land in the hangars, I spot the Yellow Lion standing next to the Blue Lion. Hunk and Lance had done their job. We go to the control room, finding Lance and Hunk talking to Allura.

"...was a nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!" Lance was saying.

"Think how I felt. I am Hunk!" Hunk says. I laugh when the others spot our group.

"Yeah. We had a tough time, too." Pidge says, winking at Shiro and me.

"Did we find the Red Lion yet?" Shiro turns to Allura and Coran.

"Allura just located it. There's a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is, the Red Lion's nearby. The bad news is, it's on board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again. We're Arus!" Coran explains. I stare at the Altean in shock.

"They're here already?!" Shiro and I exclaim.

"Yes. Guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting is – it's more of an art than a science." Coran rubs his neck nervously. A screen pops up behind us, and the purple face of an alien appears.

"Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet." The Galra then disappears.

"All right, let's not panic." Shiro says.

"Not panic? Th-The scary purple alien thing is driving toward us. We only have five Lions." Hunk says nervously.

"Technically, only four working Lions." Pidge comments. I glare at the boy.

"That's right. Thank you, Pidge. Four working Lions and a castle that's, like, 10,000 years old." Hunk points out. I sigh.

"Hunk, calm down." I say.

"Actually, it's 10,600 old. You see, it was built by my grandfather-." Coran starts to say, but Hunk interrupts.

"Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!" Hunk exclaims.

"Hunk, seriously. Calm down." I say. He looks at me with scared eyes. I place a hand on him and he takes a deep breath.

"Wait! This castle has a particle barrier we can activate!" Allura says.

"Girl, you've already activated my par-." Lance begins, but I swat his head.

"Lance!" Shiro warns as Lance rubs his head. He shoots a glare at me, and I return it.

"The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever. The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last." Coran explains.

"Panic now?" Hunk asks nervously. I squeeze his arm reassuringly.

"No. We've just got to figure out our plan of action, and figure it out quickly." Shiro informs.

"I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day." Lance suggests.

"I second that. Yes. I mean, we tried to find all the Lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We've only got four. We can't form Voltron. I guess we could form a snake. Or a worm! To go through that hole, Lance, that you were talking about." Hunk says, nodding at his suggestion.

"Then it's settled. Allura, you ride with me. One of you take the old guy." Lance says, winking at Allura. I huff, earning a glare from Lance.

"We can't just abandon Arus. The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them." I state.

"Okay. If we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Earth. We form the snake-worm-thingamajig and we –," Hunk makes a hissing sound, waving his arm. "Out of here." He finishes.

"Sendak could destroy the planet, then come after us anyway. Staying is our only option." Keith states, arms folded.

"Here's an option: shut your quiznack!" Lance says to Keith, Coran gasping behind him.

"I don't think you're using that word correctly." Keith comments.

"What do you know, mullet?" Lance counters.

"We're staying." Keith states.

"Leaving!" Lance says, going head to head with Keith.

"Staying!" Pidge shouts.

"Snake!" Hunk yells.

"Guys, stop!" I plead, looking at Shiro in concern.

"Enough, guys! Princess, Allura, these are your Lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?" Shiro asks.

"I...I don't know." She says, looking down.

"Perhaps your father can help." Coran comments.

"My father?" Allura looks up at him. Coran takes her to another section of the Castle. As we wait for the Alteans to return, I march up to Keith and Lance, angry.

"What is wrong with you two? This is no time for arguing! Why can't you stop fighting for one freaking moment?!" I shout. Lance and Keith look down in shame. "We're a team now. We can't be fighting just because we don't agree on something. If we don't work together, we're never going to form Voltron!"

"Y/n." Shiro places a hand on my shoulder. I breathe in, but look at the two boys, who look up.

"Y/n's right. We can't fight because we have different opinions on things." Keith says. Lance nods.

"We're sorry." Lance says, rubbing his foot along the floor.

"We need to work together. It's the only way we can do this." Shiro says. The two boys nod. A door opens behind us, and Allura steps in. Her hair was tied back now, and she was dressed in some sort of armor.

"You six Paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope." She says, looking at us all. Shiro steps forward.

"We're with you, Princess." He says. We follow her to a room. Six pods with suits are along the wall. Each suit was a different color, matching the six Lions' colors.

"Your suits of armor." Allura gestures to the suits.

"Cool!" Lance runs over to his. I walk over to mine. It was a bright orange, matching the shade of the Orange Lion. I smile, ready to suit up.

"Boys...and Y/n...it's time to suit up!" Shiro says. We all cheer. I grab my suit and hide behind one of the pods as I suit up. I was always a little funny about changing in front of other people. I dress quickly, then come out. Shiro smiles at me when he sees me in my suit. I smile back. Allura holds her hand out, and a table emerges from the floor. On it was five handle-like objects.

"The bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes a distinct shape for each Paladin." The Altean explains. I watch as the others try their bayards. Hunk gets a large machine gun, Lance gets a rifle, Keith gets a sword, and Pidge gets a knife-like weapon.

"Aw, you have a cute little bayard." Lance says, bending to Pidge's height. Pidge thrusts his bayard into Lance's stomach, giving him an electric shock. Lance falls over.

"Yeah, it is pretty cute." Pidge smiles at it. I look down at the last bayard. Slowly, I pick it up and it takes a form. In seconds, I'm holding a bow, equipped with a scope. The bowstring glowed a bright blue, while the rest of it was a combination of orange, blue, and white. I drew back the string and a blue arrow appears, ready for firing. Smiling, I aim and release the arrow. It hits the opposite wall. I notice a blue screen pop up on my non-release arm and peer at it. Different names of arrows show. Apparently, I can pick what kind of arrow I want the bow to produce.

"Cool." I say. I look up when Allura starts talking once more.

"You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship." She states.

"That's a pretty big ship. How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?" Keith asks.

"Well, it's not a matter of 'we.' It's a matter of 'you'." Pidge comments.

"Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and, like, track it down." Hunk explains.

"Yeah. You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?" Lance asks.

"Yeah. You made fun of me for that." Keith says.

"And I'm proud of that, but, turns out it's exactly like that mumbo-jumbo." Lance states.

"Keith, remember, the Red Lion is temperamental. You'll have to earn its respect." Allura warns. He nods.

"I stay with you, in case if anything goes haywire." I say, placing a hand on him. He nods, and covers a blush. I don't notice it.

"All right. Here's our plan of attack." Shiro starts. "The Galra Empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they don't know we have the Green and Orange Lion too. Hunk, Lance, you'll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up. While Sendak is distracted, Keith, Pidge, Y/n, and I will sneak onto the ship in the Green Lion. The Orange Lion will stay here, on standby. Keith, Y/n, and I will find the Red Lion while Pidge guards our exit. Hunk, Lance, find some way to take down that ion cannon." We nod and run off to start the plan.

-15 minutes later-

I float down to the floor. Lance's voice comes over our intercoms.

"Pidge, what's you ETA?" He asks.

"We're in." He replies. I deactivate my oxygen mask and glance around. No Galra soldiers in sight, fortunately. Suddenly, Shiro gasps and grabs his head.

"Shiro?" I hold onto him as he shakes his head. He stands up and stares down the hall.

"I've been here before. After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos, they brought us here." He says.

"So, that means your other crewmembers, they might be held captive here. We...We've got to rescue them." Pidge exclaims.

"Pidge, we don't have time. We have to get the Red Lion and get back to Arus." I say.

"But we can't just leave prisoners here!" Pidge yells.

"Look, no one understands that more than me, but, in war, we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving." Shiro says.

"No! Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones on the Kerberos Mission with you." Pidge says. I stare at him in disbelief.

"Commander Holt is your father?!" Shiro exclaims.

"Yes. I've been searching for him and my brother. And I'm not going to give up looking when I'm this close. I won't!" Pidge looks down. Shiro places a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up.

"I'm coming with you." He states.

"What?" Keith asks.

"I remember where the prisoners are held. Keith, you go find the Red Lion." He turns to the boy.

"By myself?" Keith looks distraught.

"Minor change of plans. You'll be fine. Y/n will go with you. Just remember, patience yields focus. So – Run!" Shiro and Pidge bolt in one direction, and Keith and I run in another when Galra soldiers appear. We stop suddenly when an intersection appears.

"Great. Now, which way?" Keith looks at the two halls.

"Let's try this one!" I run down one when Galra soldiers appear once more. I grab Keith's hand and run down it. A few minutes later, we find ourselves at the same intersection, but we had lost the soldiers.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Keith takes a deep breath. "Patience yields focus." He whispers. He opens his eyes and looks down one of the halls. "Gotcha." He runs down it, with me running after him.

"Whoa! Keith, slow down!" I pant, running as fast as I can after him. We burst into a large hangar. The Red Lion sits across from us.

"Bingo." Keith walks up to the Lion, placing a hand on the particle barrier. "Let's get out of here." Keith and I frown when it doesn't respond.

"Uh, is it supposed to do this?" I ask, checking our backs.

"Open up. It's me. Keith. Your buddy. It's me! Keith, you – I am your Paladin!" He says slowly. I gasp when the hangar door opens and Galra soldiers appear. Keith jumps in front of me, activating his shield. I activate my bayard and start firing at the soldiers.

"I'm bonding with you! Hey! Come on! We're connected!" Keith yells at the Lion. It doesn't move. He turns back to the soldiers. "You're not getting this Lion!" He deflects a few shots, causing some of the soldiers to go down. I yelp when one of the shots graze my shoulder, close enough that the force from it knocks me down.

"Y/n!" Keith grabs me, shielding us. He reaches over, and hits a button. The floor opens up into space, sucking the soldiers out. Keith, hanging onto me, grabs the console and tries to hold on. Groaning, he struggles to hold us both in. His hand slips when a piece of debris hits the console, and we're sucked out into space. I pant as we drift away from the ship. I suddenly hear purring and look over when the Orange Lion catches me in its mouth. Smiling, I get into the cockpit.

"Good girl." I say, grinning at the purr that encases me. I see the Red Lion grab Keith. His voice comes over the intercom.

"Y/n? Are you okay?" the Red Lion floats in front of my Lion.

"Yes. I'm fine." I say. The Red Lion shoots toward Arus. I guide my Lion after Keith. I spot the other Lions. Smiling, I check in with the others. Lance and Hunk had destroyed the ion cannon, and Pidge and Shiro had rescued the prisoners. Commander Holt hadn't been there, though. We land in the hangars at the Castle, which was still intact.

"Y/n, are you alright?" Shiro asks when he sees the burnmark from the shot. I nod. We stand in front of large white doors. All the Lions stood behind us. One by one, they stand up and roar when the Black Lion emerges, the Orange Lion the loudest by far. Finally looking at the Black Lion, I realize that the Orange Lion was the same size, just slimmer and without the huge wings. The Blue and Yellow Lions were slightly smaller than the Black and Orange Lions, with the Yellow Lion being bulkier. The Green and Red Lions were the smallest out of all of them.

Suddenly, alarms start blaring. We run up to the control room to see what was the problem. I gasp when I see the Galra battleship was entering the atmosphere.

"Oh, quiznack!" Coran curses.

"Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere. We need Voltron now!" Allura turns to us. The ion cannon releases a laser, hitting the Castle. I stumble into Keith, who holds me steady.

"You alright?" Keith asks. I nod as I steady myself.

"Man, those Galra guys repair things fast." Hunk comments.

"The barrier gets weaker with every blast. Once that shield goes down, the Castle will be defenseless." Coran says, leaning over the control console.

"I can give you cover with the Castle defenses for a while, but you have to form Voltron now, or we'll all be destroyed!" Allura states.

"Jeez, no pressure." Hunk mumbles. We ran to our Lions. I jumped into my seat, flying my Lion out. I group with the others and we fly out.

"Listen up, Team Voltron! The only way to succeed is to give it all you've got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?" Shiro says over the coms. I nod.

"I'm nodding. Is everyone else nodding?" Hunk asks.

"Yes." I chuckle as the others reply.

"Let's do this!" The Black Lion shoots ahead. I thrust my handles forward, following close.

"Uh, how?" Lance asks.

"Good question. Does anyone have any ideas of how to form Voltron?" I dodge a blast as Shiro replies.

"I don't see a 'combine into giant robot' button anywhere on my dashboard." Hunk states.

"This is insane! Could they just cease fire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is that too much to ask?" Pidge shouts, taking down a fighter.

"We've got to do something!" Keith says, firing at a fighter.

"Combine!" I hold in a laugh when Hunk runs into Keith. The Red Lion tumbles from the impact.

"Hey!" Keith shouts, straightening his Lion.

"Okay, that didn't work." Hunk says, his Lion hanging its head. They were bombarded by more fighters.

"Quickly, Paladins! Our energy levels are getting low!" Allura's voice comes over the intercoms.

"Maybe if we fly in formation, we'll just combine. Take off on my cue. One, two, three, Voltron!" I launch my Lion after Shiro.

"Here we go!"

"Come on, come on!"

"Nothing's happening." I say.

"Hey, wait, wait! I feel something!" Lance shouts.

"I do, too. I feel it. It's like we're all being pulled in the same direction!" Hunk confirms.

"Uh, guys, I think I know why. Look up." I say, staring up. The battleship had fired a beam, surrounding us, and drawing us toward it.

"What the cheese?" Lance comments.

"Sendak's ship is sucking us in like a black hole!" Pidge shouts. As I watch, another beam from the ion cannon fires on the Castle.

"Oh no!" Shiro exclaims.

"Allura! Coran!" I shout, tears forming.

"I-I don't care what you say, Shiro. I'm panicking now!" I could hear the others screaming, specifically Hunk.

"It can't end here!"

"This is it!"

"It's been an honor with you boys." I start to cry at Keith's defeated tone.

"No." I whisper. "No, this can't be it!" I shout.

"It is. It's over." Lance says.

"No! We can do this! We have to believe in ourselves. We can't give up. We are the universe's only hope. Everyone is relying on us. We can't fail! We won't fail! If we work together, we'll win together!" I shout.

"YEAH!" Everyone shouts. A large flash of light encases us. I feel myself connecting to the Orange Lion, and felt her start growing. I spin her around and launch her back toward Arus. I can feel the others following. We jump in front of a blast from the ion cannon and block it from hitting the Castle. I look up and see that we've done it. Voltron and the Voltron Lion now stood in front of the Castle.

"I can't believe it!" Keith exclaims.

"We formed Voltron!" I hear Pidge's amazed voice.

"I'm a leg!" I laugh at Hunk's comment.

"We did it!" I call.

"How are we doing this?" Lance asks.

"I don't know, but let's get that cannon!" Shiro says. Voltron launches into the sky. I urge the Voltron Lion forward, flying after them. I watch as Voltron hits the ion cannon, bending it like a piece of rubber. I open the Lion's mouth and she takes a large chunk out of the battleship. In moments, the battleship is destroyed. Cheering, we head back to the Castle. After cleaning up, I head to the lounge area. I find the others already there. I plop down next to Keith with a sigh.

"Good work, Paladins!" Allura comes in.

"Thanks, pretty lady." Lance sighs.

"We did it." Shiro says.

"Heck yeah, we did." Keith laughs.

"How did we do it?" I sit up.

"I was just, like, screaming the whole time. Maybe that did it." I laugh at Hunk's comment. Shiro looks over at Pidge, who was hanging his head.

"We're not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father. Wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you." Shiro says, placing a hand on Pidge's shoulder.

"We won the battle, but the war has only just begun. I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these Lions." Allura says.

"Good thing you Paladins know what you're doing, because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again." Coran states.

"Totally." Hunk mumbles. He sits up suddenly. "Wait, what?"

"We barely survived forming Voltron this one time!" Lance complains.

"And you only had to fight one ship. Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe." Coran says.

"Defenders of the Universe, huh? That's got a nice ring to it." Shiro says. I smile at him. I was glad we had survived. I couldn't wait to see what this adventure would bring. And with my friends, I knew we could make it through everything Zarkon throws at us.