Another full (somewhat) length chapter
Warning, story elements are going to change and there may be some swearing!
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Purple laserfire filled space entirely as Voltron dodged left and right from laser fire from the ground and the skies. Cruisers kept showing up around Earth, as if they could somehow replicate themselves. The ground fire from the stations, while under attack from the MFE's were still annoying to the Paladins.
Pidge was nearly thrown back from her seat from a blast from one of the cannons on the surface hitting Voltron. She groaned and sat straight back up in her seat.
"We can't take much more from those cannons!" Keith shouted as they barrel rolled around another ground laser.
"There's just too many of them! How many ships are there?!" Hunk cried as he looked all around him.
Pidge pulled up a screen and ran through the numbers, before her eyes widened, "adding the ships on the other side of the planet that are closing in, there are roughly 4,000 Galra cruisers closing, with more on the way!" Hunk and Lance groaned, while Keith grunted.
"SHIELD! QUICK!" Keith shouted. Pidge looked up to see a massive purple laser hurtling towards them. Quickly pressing forward on her controls, she moved her Lion to block the attack. The short relief that was awarded from deflecting that one attack was outmatched by the numerous lasers from the Galran ships around them. Every time they tried to block incoming fire from the ground cannons, they were pummeled by the Galran ships, and every time they deflected the Galran lasers, the ground cannons would steam roll them. On top of that, the Zaiforge cannons were getting into position to fire on Earth, only adding to the ever increasing pressure over the Paladins' heads.
"Paladins! The cannons are nearing their final positions!" Shiro cried through the comms.
"We're- GAH! TRYING!" Keith shouted as another blast hit the head of Voltron. Pidge quickly pulled up the shield to block another blast from one of the last ground cannon shots, then looked at the corner of her eye, only to freeze in terror. 4 Galran cruisers had their Ion cannons locked directly on to her. If she tried to block, the blast the cannon would continue through her and hit the others. If she did nothing, those Ion cannons may not harm Voltron, but they can still hurt her.
Theme: Sayonara no Tsubasa from Macross Frontier plays
The cannons were about to fire on her. She closed her eyes, embracing the pain that is about to follow. An unfamiliar explosion and sound whooshed into her ears, as she looked back, she was confused to see a massive orange blast from top left of the ships had blown them apart. The closest ship's front only remained, but later exploded with the rest of the destroyed ship. She followed the beam of destructive energy, as it destroyed several more ships below them before collapsing on itself.
"What the hell was that?!" Lance shouted in panic.
"There!" Allura pointed, though no one could see it. Everyone looked up, including Voltron, to see that far in the distance a massive pink and purple swirling, flowering vortex appeared.
"Hey... I remember that kind of vortex!" Hunk's spirits began to rise.
"Paladins! What's going on up there!" Shiro called through the comms.
"It's Mathias! He's returned!" Pidge squealed, as a ship began to come through the vortex. As more of the ship materialized, all stared in astonishment.
"No way..." Lance could only muster as the massive cannon, now folded back to their original position, came through, followed by a massive body, a bridge, two arms, and the engines. The Fold gateway closed upon itself behind the ship, revealing the massive Macross that emerged from space.
"THE MACROSS!" Pidge shouted in joy.
"You guys look like you could use a hand with liberating Earth!" Mathias' voice came through the comms.
"Good to have you back! The IGF Atlas is in the air!" Shiro shouted as the massive Garrison ship came into view. The Macross suddenly began to transform from the cruiser it was in, with its arms extending outward and the cannons beginning to separate. The Paladins watched as the ship soon transformed to a hulking mech, its giant guns swinging down upon approaching ships. The Paladins watched as the guns began to glow a brilliant orange, with orange lighting bolting between the two cannons. Several seconds later, the cannon once again erupted into an orange glow, firing an orange projectile that destroyed about a dozen ships in one shot.
"What's the game plan here?!" Mathias shouted as he gripped the controls of a console.
"We can't let those Zaiforge cannons fire, but we can't get close because we couldn't survive such an attack! Not to mention with all these Galra ships around, we can't stop the cannons while being gunned down!" Pidge shouted as she blocked another Ion blast.
"Copy, leave the Galra ships to me and the Ghosts, you guys try to figure out a way to take out those cannons!"
"Hold on, Ghosts?" Hunk asked.
"Yup... these Ghosts!" Mathias shouted as he pressed a couple of buttons. At once, multiple small crafts began to launch from the arms of the Macross, rapidly darting their way into the battlefield. Galra fighters that attempted to engage didn't stand any chance from the high maneuverability of the drone.
"What are those things?" Keith asked as he watched a drone dash by the head of Voltron.
Pidge did a small scan and pulled up a hud for everyone to see, "they are drones that are capable of high speed movement and armed with various armaments! Incredible!"
"They will provide you some cover while I try to take out the capital ships. I should point out that the Macross isn't in the best of shape at the moment, so whatever plan you have, make it quick! I can't take a lot of damage!" Mathias spoke with a slightly worried tone.
"Copy that!" Keith shouted as Voltron moved in towards the Zaiforge cannons, while the Macross began to be bombarded by attacks from closing Galra ships.
"How do we get close to those cannons?!" Lance shouted as another Ion blast nearly missed Voltron's left hip.
"We won't be able to get in close, let alone tank a shot like that!" Pidge shouted as she pulled up the shield again to block an attack.
"Hey-hey! What about those shields the Galra used to curve those lasers at us?" Hunk proposed an idea.
"That could work!" Shiro shouted through the comms.
"Maybe, but whatever you're planning, do it fast! The Macross is taking severe fire!" Mathias spoke. Pidge looked over to the mechanical giant battling what looked like a hundred cruisers. Numerous explosions were engulfing the bodies of the Macross, while little blue lasers shot from the body of the ship and hit the Galran cruisers. For the first time, she noticed how badly damaged the Macross really looked, and cringed slightly for not noticing it sooner.
"Alright, all the plates are very far away from each other, so I've plotted the fastest course for each of our lions to take. Keith, Lance, take the furthest. We need to position these in front of the cannons, and keep them there for as long as possible!" Pidge shouted as the Lions separated and each went to their respective plates.
Mathias, meanwhile, was running back and front of the bridge, inspecting damages and firing on the enemy ahead. Alarms rang out through the bridge as he gripped a console tightly. He watched as blue lasers flung out from the Macross and rammed themselves in the body of the Galran cruisers, damaging or destroying them on impact. The Macross shook as an Ion cannon struck his chest, nearly causing him to fall over on his back. He swung around and saw a group of cruisers approaching the Yellow Lion from a blind spot. Wasting no time, he slowly moved the hulking giant around to where the main cannon aimed down at the cruisers.
"Hunk! Be advised! The main gun is preparing to fire in your general area! I suggest leaving the area with the panels immediately!" Mathias shouted. The cannons began glowing an ominous orange once again.
"Gotcha! But, p-please don't vaporise me!" Hunk seemed panicked through the comms.
"You'll be fine!" Mathias shrugged as the cannons charged to full, "MACROSS CANNON! FIRE!" The destructive orange beam once again thrusted out from the cannons, piercing multiple Garlan ships near the Yellow Lion. The orange glow illuminated the hull of the Lion, then glowed from the explosions of several Galran cruisers.
"Thanks!" Hunk yelled as he moved the plates out and towards the Zaiforge cannon.
The Macross shook again, this time throwing Mathias down from the console.
"Atlas to Macross! You got more fighters and ships on your way! The plates are nearly in position, we got to give the Paladins some cover!" Shiro called through the comms.
"At least your ship isn't already battle damaged!" Mathias groaned as he yelled through the comms, "I'll try my best, but my ship can't take a lot of damage!" A noise shook Mathias ears as he stood back up and watched six purple beams from the Zaiforge Cannons fire. Only five of the beams were being blocked. The Lions were struggling to keep them in place as the beams continued firing. I can't risk the main gun firing on the Cannons, the Lions would be in jeopardy... He thought to himself as the guns rose up from the shoulders to their original position.
"Mathias, this is Sam, Shiro is going out to try to engage Sendak's ship and take down the crystals powering the ship, maybe take down those Zaiforge cannons power!" Sam suddenly called through the comms, "once that happens, we need to hit the cannons with all we've got!"
"Understood!" Mathias shouted, then looked at Earth, planet that is, yet not, his home. He gripped the console tighter, "it's like the damn Zentraedi Holocaust..." he spoke to himself. He stared in silence for a moment, then an alarm rang around him, he looked to the Paladins holding the plates, which had begun to buckle, then without warning, they exploded, allowing the beams to connect, then shoot down. His eyes grew wide as the beam quickly made its way down to Earth, when all of a sudden, the Atlas stopped the beam by running into it.
"Altas! The hell are you doing?!" Mathias shouted.
"Buying- Voltron- TIME!" Sam shouted as the Atlas' shields were engulfed by the mass of purple laserfire, the ship slowly pushed down to the surface.
Mathias pressed several buttons, as the giant mech beganto lumber forward towards the mass of cannons. The Lions were recovering and beginning to strike at the Cannons, with no avail. Mathias smirked, "time to show them not to fight a Macross." The Macross began to charge one of the cannons, raising its right arm, as if charging a punch.
"Woah, dude?! The hell are you doing?!" Lance shouted as the Blue Lion stopped to watch the giant coming through.
"Scatter, give him some room!" Keith yelled as the Lions diverged away from the cannon the Macross was charging. A swirling white energy began to form around the arm of the Macross.
"IS HE GONNA-!?" Pidge was about to shout before Mathias cut her off.
"MACROSS ATTACK!" He screamed as the carrier lunged forward and pierced the shields of the Zaiforge cannon, but the effect on the arm wore off as it pierced through the hull of the cannon. The cannon ceased fire as the attack followed through. Within the breached ship, numerous ports opened, as thousands of hundreds of high explosive missiles launched from the arm. They flung themselves and exploded the inner hull of the cannon, causing the ship to implode, then explode. The Macross, using it's chest engines, backed away from the cannon as it suddenly exploded. The orange flash illuminated the once mossy structure of the mighty battleship.
"DID HE JUST SUCKER PUNCH A SHIP... WITH ANOTHER SHIP?!" Lance's jaw dropped in pure shock.
"Badass..." Pidge muttered as the other cannons began to fire their defenses at the Macross when the cannons suddenly dropped in power.
"Shiro's done it!" A girl he didn't recognize came through the comms.
"Paladins! Take out the cannons, quickly!" Keith called out, as each Lion raced to one of the cannons, blasting them apart with claws and lasers until all of them exploded.
Theme ends
"We did it!" Hunk cheered as the Lions grouped up near the bridge of the Macross.
"The only remaining ships are Sendak's ship and a small group of nine ships that are closing in," the girl Mathias didn't know earlier came back through.
"Shiro's still in there!" Sam called, sounding worried.
"Wait... Sendak's ship is free falling to Earth!" Pidge shouted.
"I'll take care of these last remaining ships, then I'll meet up with you all back on Earth. Do me a favor and find me a lake or some massive body of water near your Galaxy Garrison for me?" Mathias spoke.
"Later. Let's go team!" Keith called as all five Lions rushed down to the Earth, following a burning Galra Battleship to the ground. The Macross slowly rotated to its right, the guns lowering down once again on a group of nine cruisers.
Mathias looked down at a console, which he frowned at. There was enough power for two more shots, after that, the cannons would be out for a while and need a massive amount of time to recharge.
"...shit," he sighed, then pushed a lever forward. The cannons began to glow a luminous orange, the orange lightning darting between the two cannons.
"Energy levels climbing... 10%... 15%... 20%... ...30%... 40%... ...50%... 60%... looking good so far!" Mathias moved his neck, giving a satisfying pop sound, then rotated his shoulder, "80%... 90-" an Alarm suddenly got his attention. An object was approaching at very high speeds towards the Earth. He didn't have anytime to react when the object passed over the Macross, a massive wave of force pushing down on top of it. The cannons began to fracture and crack as the gun fired, releasing the orange wave upon nine cruisers, blowing three of them apart with ease and critically damaging the others as they too fell to Earth. Mathias fell to the ground, the Macross shaking entirely around him. When the rumbling ceased, he slowly stood back up.
"Macross to Voltron, we've... got an unidentified object coming in at high speeds!" Mathias calls out.
"We- AUGH! NOTICED!" Keith shouted, a metal sound could be heard through the comms.
"I gotta get down there..." Mathias rushed over to another console and plotted a course down to the planet's surface. The Macross slowly descended to the planet's now dull brown layout. From high in the sky, he could see craters that were massive, filling the ground.
Then, he saw it. A mechanical monstrosity, easily swatting down Voltron like nothing. The Altas was there, too, however, he could see they had taken some damage. Mathias saw a large river and pond nearby, so the Macross began to slowly fall towards it. Mathias took a chance and lowered the main gun once again, aiming it at the lumbering machine some distance away. Only two problems arose from this: Voltron and the Atlas.
"Yo, Shiro! You might want to move your ass out of my gun's line of fire!" Mathias called out to the comms, "Macross to Altas and Voltron, I've arrived and am preparing to fire the main gun on the target! However, I must say this. That object damaged the main gun when it passed over the Macross. Plus, we only have enough power for one more shot from the main cannon. Anymore, and I risk destroying the gun and the reactors!"
"Understood, let's give him a clean shot!" Keith shouted as Voltron continued drawing the beast's attention while the Atlas slowly floated out of the Macross line of fire. The legs now barely touched the surface of the water, as the engines caused the waves to roar from beneath it.
"Energy charging slowly. 10%... 20... 30... 40... 50..." Mathias counted the tens as the cannons roared once more, fractured, yet whole, with orange energy and lightning. "70... 80... 90... READY!"
"FIRE THE CANNON!" Keith shouted.
"MACROSS CANNON! FIRE!" Mathias shouted as he pressed a button. The gun exploded with energy, as an orange beam engulfed both guns, hurtling towards the beast. The cannons began to crack even more, as small bits of metal began to fall down. The orange laser rushed forward to meet its target. Voltron, with little time to spare, rushed out of the way as the laser engulfed the robot, which had almost no time to react.
"You got it!" Hunk cheered as smoke filled the area around the place where the robot once stood. The beam shrunk to nothing, as the main guns began to rise back upward to the skies. Silence... an uncomfortable silence filled the air. Did it work? Did they win?
Then a black and purple aura formed in the smoke, and lashed forward at the Macross. The nearby Atlas rocked from the force of the nearby blast. Mathias's eyes widened as he rapidly began to press buttons.
"EMERGENCY PINPOINT BARRIER SYSTEM!" He shouted as a green aura formed around the bridge of the ship. The engines began to roar below, as the ship very slowly rose. "COME ON, CLIMB! CLIMB!" but, it was far too late. The blast struck the barrier, causing a brief pause before ultimately collapsing, then a massive explosion followed suit. Mathias saw white fill his vision and everything stopped around him.
The Paladins, Shiro, and the Atlas crew watched in horror as the Macross' chest and bridge had been struck. A massive explosion engulfed the entirety of the upper section of the ship. The ship recoiled back from the blast, but the power output began to falter. The ship soon slipped into the waters below, fiery debris fell from the sky as the legs slowly submerged in the waters. The ship stopped sinking upon reaching waist deep, the lower abdomen of the ship was the only part still visible to the entirety of the Macross' upper body.
"No way..." Lance muttered.
"A single shot was all it took to take down the Macross," Allura tagged along. Everyone watched the pillar of smoke pierce the atmosphere as it rose from the vocal point. They began to fear the worst, when Hunk began to see something appear from the cloudlines.
"Guys, LOOK!" Hunk pointed. Everyone looked and saw the bare edges of the cannons on the Macross' back. They still stood defiantly in the sky behind the pillars of smoke.
"The cannon's still there! That means the Macross is still intact!" Keith shouted, then Voltron was lunged forward by a kick from the beast. Everyone grunted, then rallied to fight the beast.
"We gotta take down this beast! Then, we can try to assist the Macross," Shiro responded. Voltron lunged forwards, pulling its legendary sword out of nothing and attacks, with the Atlas overwatching the entire fight.
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Mathias coughed as he picked himself up, then gripped his arm in pain. His uniform was torn from orange glass that... wait... he looked up and noticed that the glass protecting the bridge was shattered, smoke emanating off of shards of glass and the metal outside. He slowly stood up and gripped his blood soaked arm, then placed a hand on his head. He felt a familiar liquid on it, great, another head injury to add to the list, he remarked to himself sarcastically. He walked up to the edge of the bridge platform and looked out to the battle occurring. He mentally shrugged to himself, there was nothing he could do to aid them. He decided to go clean himself off and head to a hospital building. Slowly making his way down through the ship and later the small city within, a large sense of nostalgia flowed within him as he walked through the battered streets.
After an hour of walking tiredly through the streets, he finally approached the military hospital within and entered. He notices that a lot of the equipment was still present, which was fortunate for him. The first thing he did was, painfully, remove the glass shards scattered in his body. After an hour of agony, he shakily grabbed some cleaner and bandaged and doused his injuries with the cleaner, grunting and shaking in pain as he did so. His fingers shaking, he barely managed to wrap the bandages around his forehead, arms and a few other areas. Quickly grabbing a high dose pain reliever, he injected himself with a needle of it before sighing in relief. He could feel his body become incredibly relaxed, but he couldn't let that overpower him. Slowly standing back up, he wobbly walked out of the small hospital and back out to the open city and through numerous corridors until he got a hanger, then walked around inspecting several sections before a particular section caught his eye. He walked in, then smirked.
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A few hours later...
"Anything?" Pidge wearily asked a nurse outside.
The nurse shook her head, "nothing so far, miss. The rescue teams haven't found anything yet. They haven't been able to get into the bridge as of yet, as the smoke is still a little too heavy for their likings. I'll come back to you if they find anything."
"Okay, thank you," she nodded. The nurse nodded in response then turned and walked out of the room. She glanced down to the bed, "he can cheat death, so I'm sure he'll survive this, too... but... I don't know..."
"He'll be fine! He's one of the best pilots out there! He won't die just yet!" Matt gripped his fist while smirking.
"Right..." Katie looked down. She looked out of her window, seeing the Macross in the distance, small ships floated all around the top of the ship like flies on a corpse. The nurse was right about one thing, the smoke was still heavy despite it being hours after it was struck. She noticed that one of the arms had submerged under the waters, while the other barely remained visible above the waters. Metal floated around the massive body within the waters.
She gave a very soft chuckle, "I don't think he would like to see his ship in this kind of condition." Her family came up and huddled close around her on her bed, looking out to the badly crippled Macross. Matt slowly places a shoulder, and gently squeezed it. They stared in silence for a few moments at the Macross. To the two, it felt weird seeing such in both an exciting and unusual way. On the one hand, it's a new marvel of technologies they didn't even know existed, more than likely; on the other, puzzling as it was created by humans, but not their humans. The two continued to watch the Macross.
"No... I really don't," A voice perked up everyone's ears from behind them. Everyone swug their heads around to see a young man leaning smugly in the doorframe. He had a bandage wrapped around his forehead and left arm, and his clothes were damaged.
Theme: Deep Stone Lullaby from Destiny 2 plays
Katie gasped, her mouth shaking, but no voice followed suit to her words.
Mathias rushed over to her and grasped her around his arms, gentle, yet firm.
"O-Oh my god... I thought..." Katie stuttered.
"-that I was dead from a blast that could've torn the Macross in two? We've been through this song and dance so many times! You know how it goes!" Mathias chuckled as he pulled back from the hug.
"So..." a voice made both of them jump. They both faced a very serious Coleen with a cliche anime smirk on her face, "THIS is the man I heard about..." Mathias slowly turned around to see a woman who looked ready to tear him into millions of fleshy bits on the floor.
Mathias gulped and faced her completely, "u-uh, I'm Captain Mathias Anderson, ma'am!" He gave her a salute, sweat running down his face.
"Oh... a military boy?" Coleen cocked her head to the side in amusement.
"Y-Yes ma'am! I am a pilot!" Mathias' body was shaking slightly. Coleen suddenly burst out laughing, pointing towards the terrified boy.
"Your face is hilarious! Calm down, I heard about you Captain. You've helped our daughter and our defenses here on Earth, so we thank you," Coleen rubbed a tear away from her eyes. Mathias nearly fainted, turning ghost white, while Katie seemed a little angered by what her mother did. Coleen suddenly turned serious again, "Do treat my daughter with respect."
"Y-Yes... I have and shall continue to do so..." Mathias huffed, this felt like agony.
"Good! I'll leave you alone now," she giggled as she backed away, leaving Mathias to shakily stand up and approach Katie, taking in view of the Macross and the numerous ships/helicopters around her.
"I'm glad you came back," she suddenly spoke, catching Mathias' attention.
Mathias stared at her for a few moments before chuckling, placing a hand on her shoulder, "I know... I'm glad I'm back 'home'..."
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SORRY! SORRY! SORRY!
SO SORRY THIS WAS DELAYED! D:
I had a lot of stuff in the past couple of weeks!
I hope to bring the next chapter out sooner!