Narrates Raya
"Okay, look, now I know for sure that Zarkon is following us through the Black Lion. We have to find some way to stop it "Shiro explained
"How are we going to do that?" Asked Pidge
"We have never had this situation before" Allura said puzzled "Two paladins fighting for the same lion"
"That's because there was only one generation, obvious princess," I recalled, receiving an annoyed growl from Allura.
"Well, unless we want Zarkon to take control of Voltron every time we get close ... I will have to forge a new bond with my lion. One that is stronger than his" Shiro replied
"Well while you're working on it ... the rest of us need to find some new Teludav lenses ... otherwise we won't be able to travel through the wormhole" Said Coran
"Is that something we have to order by mail?" Hunk wondered aloud
"Does anyone make them yet?" Keith asked
"I don't know" Allura sighed, "only a few Alteans could use the Teludav 10,000 years ago. They may no longer exist."
Coran thought for a minute, his hand under his chin in a thinking position "I think I may know where we can get some." He walked over to the control panel and opened a file full of images on the screen. My eyes widened along with everyone's when I saw the photographs, it was a Unilu moon almost the same as mine
"Oh no" Ally and I complained, imagining Coran's plan.
"Please tell me you're not suggesting what I'm thinking Coran" Allura growled, matching our disgust, surprisingly
"We barely made it out alive the first time," Lance recalled.
"Look, I know the last time was not the best trip" Coran accepted
"Oh, don't tell me, maybe being chased by a bloodthirsty crowd all over the planet for something you didn't do is not my concept of vacation" I said with a sarcastic smile.
"Especially when you've lived most of your life there" Ally added.
"But the Unilu Moons are the only place in the universe where we can get new Teludav lenses, do they want to be the reflectors again when we have to escape?" Coran said, remembering the little incident from a few days ago. Mm return to a Unilu Moon or die at the hands of an emperor thirsty for power, why is the answer so difficult?
"Coran is right, no matter how much we dislike the idea, before it was just a stroke of luck, if we want to escape from Zarkon next time, we will need the Teludav, even if our only option is the most horrible place in the entire universe" Shiro said , making himself snort in frustration reluctantly accepting the idea
"Don't worry, we won't go to Raya's moon" Coran said, trying to reassure us.
"It doesn't matter which one it is" I growled, staring into space, while Ally looked at her feet with concern "all moons are the same, a little prison for those who don't have a place in the universe"
"Well, the silver lining is that while Coran is shopping for his glasses ... I'll take you shopping for something shiny," Lance said in a flirtatious tone standing next to Allura, trying to cheer up the situation.
"This is not shopping!" Coran yelled, pulling the two apart "You're not wandering around saying ... Oh, what a beautiful pink hat! This is a very brilliant thing. No! I can't let Allura get close to those disgusting rude Unilu thugs again, it was risk enough the first time when they almost blew them up. "
"But I would love something shiny," Allura said, pleading with large pleading eyes. Ha, if she wanted something shiny she could go to her nice room and pick a new flashy dress out of the millions she had
Coran sighed, "Look, you're the only one who can operate the Castle. You have to be resting, after everything you've been through."
Allura dropped her shoulders in disappointment, as I gave a huge laugh, poking fun at her bad luck.
"Now let's prepare a capsule for our mission" Coran said walking to the exit "We have to go in, find the scautrite lenses and get out"
"Shotgun!" Lance called out as he ran after Coran
"What? No, you have to be in the pod bay to call the shotgun" Hunk said as he ran after the two
"Since when?"
"Uh, since forever? That's a shotgun tag! I wrote the book."
I was about to follow them, when I noticed Ally a few meters behind me, ready to follow me, so before taking another step, I stopped her in her place and took her to my seat "Ally, you will stay here."
"What!? But... "she started to protest
"No buts, I won't have time to take care of you if I'm keeping an eye on those assholes, last time they barely managed to survive without me, so you stay here." I explained, placing her in my place.
"I lived 10 years in a Unilu Moon, I can accompany you, I will not be a burden" Ally insisted, but she needed more than that to convince me
"I don't care, this is not up for discussion, miss and if I have to chain you to this chair so that you obey me I will, but you are not going to go on this mission and if you follow me, I swear by the stars: That i will take it by the ear and I'll drag you back to the castle, do you want that?" I threatens her severely, placing my hands on my hips
Ally was silent touching her ears as she remembered the last time she disobeyed me and nodded, accepting my orders
"I thought so, now whatever you do while I'm gone, don't touch my things" I said one last time before stepping away from her and silently approaching the mice that were standing on the bridge's central computer.
"I want you guys her to keep it very well watch, okay?"
The mice nodded in confirmation and I finally followed the paladins to the capsule, looking one last time at Ally, who had an annoyed and sad expression on her face, as she gazed at the stars.
I sighed in annoyance and continued on my way "children" I complained silently
(Time jump)
We were flying for a while, Hunk, Keith, Pidge and I stayed in the back of the capsule, while Coran and Lance were in the front, manning the ship.
"Where is Ally? Lately he has accompanied us on many missions "Hunk said, noticing the absence of the red-haired girl.
"I ordered him to stay in the castle, surprisingly he obeyed" I explained, crossing my arms
"Why didn't you let Ally come? She seems very capable of taking care of herself, she has lived for 10 years on a Unilu Moon after all. "Pidge asked, arching an eyebrow.
"First: I want to be more than two centimeters away from her, thank you very much, Second: she is exactly 10 years old, she is at that stage where she is curious about everything that surrounds her and since she is a girl who only lived in only one place all his life, obviously he wants to explore, he did it in Olkari and now she will do it here and I don't want him to get in problems" I said, closing my eyes in annoyance
"So if you care about her," Keith said, grinning with amusement. I snapped my eyes open and looked at him quickly
"No!"I screamed, instantly denying her assumption, it's amazing how her annoyed and insufferable gaze was so much like Ally's "I couldn't care less! She is an irritating little girl who never leaves me alone! Obviously I don't care about her! I don't want her to be separated from the group and then have to come back for her, that's all! "
"So if you would go back for her?" Hunk asked with the same smile
I turned my head dangerously in his direction "don't try to confuse me! You know what I mean!" I defended myself
"I don't know, what are you trying to say?" Pidge questioned, joining my questioning. Now I understood where Ally learned to interpret things however she wanted
"Hello? Rear passengers? Do you hear me?" Coran asked from the front seat, saving me from this ridiculous situation.
"Oh it's so comfortable in here" Lance laughed "More legroom, heated seats! Oh man!"
"Stupid Lance. Stupid shotgun" Hunk grumbled
"Now, as you well know, these exchange moons are very dangerous environments. So be vigilant. Weapons or communication devices of any kind are not allowed now! Also, I have brought some costumes."
We landed shortly after in front of a large building with people coming and going freely, this place was very different from my moon and it obviously doesn't appear to be the moon from Coran's photos. We all got out of the capsule and Coran pointed us to the compartment in the rear cargo hold.
He pulled out a giant brown bag and handed us a variety of clothes to wear
"Coran, what are these for?" Asked Lance
"Hush! Put them on before someone else sees you" he ordered quietly "Now, we have to go unnoticed. Follow my lead"
After we got dressed, which I honestly hated my outfit, at this point I preferred wearing Allura's cheesy princess dresses than this shit, but I admit I looked better than everyone else.
We walked to the doors, waited for them to open and reveal....
A normal looking mall.
The loudspeakers played soft elevator music and there were even young children running with their parents through the little shops that filled the mall. What kind of Luna was this?
"Huh, Coran?" Pidge said, "This Unilu swap meet looks a lot like a normal shopping mall."
"Well, it seems to be a little cleaner than I remember." Coran thought aloud, surveying his surroundings.
"We look ridiculous, my capes would have been enough and we could have avoided this humiliation" I complained, crossing my arms
"That probably worked last time, but you have to be cautious, the Unilu are fierce wheel dealers. So keep your hands on your coin purses "
"Uh, my wallets are empty." Hunk said
"Let's get this over with" Keith said annoyed
"Yeah right. Everyone, let's deploy, let's look for Teludav lenses in the area. We will approach the giant clock here in a varga. Don't be late and try to blend in" said Coran before walking away from us, in a very strange way
Once he was far enough away, we got rid of the ridiculous costumes and threw them in the trash, taking different paths. Keith and I walked through the mall looking for a ship parts store.
"This place is strange" I murmured, looking around with curiosity "I never thought there were moons how are you"
"Have you never been to another moon?" Keith questioned, arching an eyebrow "I thought you were exploring the universe looking for things of value to sell."
"Yeah, but moons weren't on my list," I explained, putting my arms behind my head. "We didn't care what our commercial rivals sold, as long as they didn't affect our business."
"Why do you keep speaking in the plural?" Keith asked
"What are you talking about?" I questioned, looking at him in confusion
"I have heard you complain several times, about the moon where you lived, I have seen your life there and I know that you have never felt that the moon was your home and much less that pirates are your people. why do you keep speaking in the plural when you you mean them?"
My eyes widened in surprise, before looking away quickly, uncomfortable and sad, trying to avoid the question, it was the first time someone had asked me something like that, not even Ally had noticed it, but Keith had realized and that was very scary, I thought I was good at hiding that
Luckily our attention was diverted when we heard the voice of a salesman, we looked to our left, noticing a stall selling Unilu knives standing a few meters from us.
We both raised an eyebrow and decided to get closer. The seller seemed to be advertising a new knife that he claimed he created himself, but honestly a lot of those knives seemed to be of poor quality
"It cuts, dices, kills, slaughters and skinns and constantly stays razor sharp." The Unilu sliced the air with the knife. When he said the words 'razor sharp' he pointed the tip of the knife at me and Keith making the blade shine
"Watch it cut through this bloato fruit" He said as he pulled out a bloato fruit from under the counter and threw it into the air. When he came back down, he sliced it several times before catching it and placing it on the counter. He slammed the knife into air. next to the fruit and broke into several paper-thin pieces, at least it did what it said
"Paper thin. How much would you pay for this knife?" He leaned forward a bit, but since there was no response, the Unilu grabbed a large rock behind him and placed it on the counter. "How many times have you had to fight a rock monster and then immediately go to a picnic? All the time, right?" And then he started to cut the rock
"EI Galasu can cut rocks and still cut bloato fruit into thin paper." He said and pulled out another bloato fruit, cutting a paper-thin slice. The Unilu leaned forward and clenched his fingers
"Now how much would you pay? Seriously, how much?" He asked as the other two customers walked away. "I have a lot of these to download."
"I just have one question" Keith said
The knife merchant looked disappointed that Keith wasn't here to buy something, but he responded anyway. "Good! What have you got?"
Keith took his belt and pulled out of it, a rare purple knife "Have you ever come across something like this?"
"Since when do you have that thing?" I asked, looking at the gun in amazement
"Long story," Keith replied, placing the knife on the table.
The Unilian examined the blade with a jeweler's lens before opening his eyes, impressed. "Wow, this blade is amazing! And this is a fancy sword? The planet where it was extracted no longer exists. Where did you get this from?"
"Someone gave it to me" he replied, although it seemed an excuse rather than an answer.
"... Okay, that's vague. I'll tell you one thing: I'll give you 1,000 GAC to take it off your hands."
"Its not for sale,"
"Two thousand?"
"No thanks. Give it back to me."
The Unilian was not happy as he held onto Keith's knife. "How about this? I'll keep the knife and you and your girlfriend leave before to security arrives. I know it's been stolen" My eyes widened with surprise and outrage, not only at the shameless and immoral blackmail, but because he thought I was his girlfriend
"I'm not his girlfriend!" I defended myself, crossing my arms
"It is not stolen!" Keith insisted
"Then tell me where you got it!"
Keith growled in rage and took a step towards the salesman, ready to hit him, but before he did anything stupid, I put my hand on his shoulder and stopped his way "you'll get us in trouble, let me take care of this" I whispered , returning my attention to the seller
"Look friend, I know this head hot as the palm of my hand and I can assure you that that knife has been with him forever" I lied, trying to persuade him, while I placed a hand under the table and began to lightly wave my finger. , stealthily glancing at a bucket of dirty water the seller had behind him, probably the water he uses to clean his knives
"really? So what are you willing to pay to get it back? "The salesman questioned, implying that he wouldn't put down the knife for anything in the world.
"Hmm ... how about an exchange?" I suggested, watching as the cube began to float stealthily in the air towards the vendor.
Keith turned his head quickly in my direction with an expression between surprise and betrayal. "What?!"
"Shut up, redhead, I'm doing business here" I said quickly covering his mouth with my hand "I can't offer you GAC, but I can offer you aqua sordid of the purest quality"
"aqua sordid?" The salesman and Keith asked at the same time, looking at me like I was crazy.
"Yes, it is a very expensive ornament where I come from, with it, I doubt that you will have to work again" finally the cube stopped over the head of the seller, while he gave me a triumphant smile
"I hear you girl" the seller accepted
"Yes, it is really wonderful and we could even say that it would make you much richer than Zarkon himself" I finally dropped the bucket of water, causing the smelly liquid to fall on top of him, making him scream and slip
Quickly seize this opportunity and take Keith's dagger and with the other hand, his wrist. "thank you for your time!" I scoffed, running full speed and disappearing into the crowd
"Come back here!" we hear the cry of Unilu from a distance, moving away more and more from him. After about ten minutes of running and doing random turns, we finally stopped to catch our breath
"You ..." Keith gasped, resting his hands on his knees. "You are a little cheat"
"Does that mean 'thank you'?" I asked with an amused look, panting heavily and handing him the knife. A snort that turned into multiple giggles gave me the answer I needed and, to tell the truth, I couldn't contain my laughter either.
"I think it's the craziest thing I've ever done in my entire life" he sighed, trying to calm himself down.
"Liar" I mocked
"No, seriously, it's not every day that you end up being chased by a lunatic with a knife around an entire mall."
"What? Don't Earthlings do this kind of thing? "
"No, normally guys our age go to places like these to relax and buy clothes or shoes, not to run away from vendors," he explained, leaning his back against a wall and crossing his arms, looking around with amusement.
"So we are cooler than them" I added, making him laugh again and placing myself next to him.
"It's good that the others didn't see that" he sighed, relieved that the rest of the team didn't see how we just attacked a salesperson, although he stressed, he was the one who started everything.
"Yes, Shiro or His Royal Majesty , he would be giving us a death sermon right now" I added, imagining the future scolding if they found out.
"That's why I'm glad it's just the two of us, with no one else," Keith agreed, unaware of what he had said. My eyes widened and a little burning feeling surrounded my cheeks as my heart became a war drum.
Finally, Keith heard what I had said, his eyes widened like saucers and he looked at me quickly, with a very marked pink tone on his cheeks, stammering slightly Ah! I mean I like spending time with you! But I do not mean that! It's like spending time with a colleague! No! A friend! You know what I mean! An opportunity to get to know each other better! look, what i'm trying to say...!"
For a strange reason, that awkward and shy attitude that I was having right now, it made me smile, it was very tender to see and hear how he tried to fix the situation, As he got more and more nervous
I let out a small laugh and put my hand on his shoulder, trying to calm his embarrassment "I know what you mean, I must admit that you are not as boring as the rest of the boys" I accepted, winking playfully.
Keith looked at me in surprise, before smiling and nodding, miraculously managing to calm himself down. I let go of his shoulder and we both looked ahead, in comfortable silence, admiring how people were coming in and out of the different stores.
"Then? Shall we look for the scautrite lenetes now? " I asked, remembering the reason we were here
"Eh, I highly doubt they are here, it is nothing like what Coran had told us, 10,000 years have passed after all, I think it won't make much difference if we just stay here" he recalled
"Yup, that's what I was thinking" I agreed and let the comfortable silence return.
(Time jump)
After a few minutes, Keith went into a bathroom, so I decided to wait for him outside and then go to the big clock where Coran had indicated us, but suddenly, Hunk appeared in front of me from somewhere, running quickly
"Hunk?" I asked, arching an eyebrow, when he took me by the shoulders and shook me violently
"Raya! You have to help me!" The scream, in a panic
"Wow! What the heck is going on lunatic ?!" I ask, trying to get my head to stop spinning from the sudden movement
At that moment, Keith came out of the bathroom, confused to see how Hunk almost seemed to take my life "Hunk? What's wrong?" he asked confused
"We have to go before he finds us, man!"
"who?"
At that moment, a small screech captured our attention, we looked to our left and saw a Galra security guard on top of what looked like a floating segway. "Pirates number two and three! My lucky day!"
The three of us screamed and started running, while the security guard chased us. What the hell did that segway have? It looked like that thing had secret thrusters or something, because boy was it hard to get away from it. As we ran, we passed Lance and Pidge, who were coming out of a store with a strange artifact in their hands.
"Time to get moving guys!" Hunk warned the other two paladins
"They better say: here it ran than here it was!" I yelled, glancing behind me from time to time to make sure I was still far from the security guard, unfortunately he was almost catching up with us
"Security, is losing us!" Keith added. The two seemed to notice and ran along with us, dragging a rare white four-legged animal with black spots on a floating pedestal behind them.
"Everybody get on Kaltenecker!" Lance ordered, jumping onto the rare animal's back.
"What the heck is that thing?" I asked, tilting my head to the side curiously.
"Did they buy a cow?" Hunk asked, helping Pidge onto the back along with Lance.
"It was free with the purchase!" Pidge said, taking my hand, while I took Keith's, to climb into what they called a cow and we jumped from the second floor to the last, flying to safety.
"Where is Coran !?" Lance wondered, searching for the lost butler, without seeing where the cow was going. Look ahead and notice how the cow got dangerously close to a counter where they were selling different colored plush squirrels.
"Lance! Eyes forward! " I screamed pointing to the counter and colliding with it, throwing the stuffed animals into the air and falling in different places, one fell into the fountain, another into a food bowl and another fell right into my arms
"Well, I think the business is through the roof," I joked, examining the stuffed purple squirrel in my hands. As we drove away, we noticed Coran coming out of a dilapidated change shop
"There it is!" Pidge pointed
"We have to go, Coran!" Keith yelled
We quickly leaned in and took Coran's hand "I have the scautrite lens-stones!" He said, getting on the Flying Cow
"Scautrita? Wait a tick!" An Unilu screamed out of the tent that Coran had just come out of.
"There are no refunds!" Coran yelled in response.
We ran to the exit and escaped, leaving the mad guard behind
"Damn! You better run!" The guard yelled "Don't let me find you in my jurisdiction again, pirates!"
"Oh, so you can't follow us outside, huh?" Lance said looking up at the guard. He began to taunt the guard, but soon bad luck reacted and when he looked forward again, his head hit a hard metal berry that was hanging on the roof.
The impact was so strong that it made him fall from the cow and moan in pain.
After helping him up, we returned to the capsule and flew back to the castle
"We have our the lens's !" Coran yelled as we entered the castle bridge
But my eyes widened in surprise along with the others to see Allura sitting on the ground with the mice and her hair in various mismatched ponytails. I quickly covered my mouth, trying not to laugh and avoiding making any sarcastic comments about his horrible hairstyle.
"Excellent!" Allura said happily as the mice jumped out of her hair
"Now, we can get the Teludav up and running."
"Where is Shiro?" Keith asked. At just the right moment, Shiro appeared and entered the room. He seemed stronger and more confident than before.
"What did you do? Take a nap?" Allura asked.
"Not exactly" Shiro replied, then got confused as his eyes wandered to the cow in the room "Is that a cow?"
"Mm-mmm, his name is Kaltenecker" Lance said proudly
"So, did you find a way to bond with your lion?" Keith asked.
"Yes, and we have to get moving" Shiro said "We headed to Blade of Marmora headquarters"
Coran began charting a course, while Pidge and Lance tried to connect the rare artifact they purchased, They called it, video game console. Unfortunately, the Castle had no place to plug it in, which was disappointing for them.
I looked around, looking for a certain red-haired girl until I found her, sitting a few feet from where Allura was, playing with the smallest mouse in her hands. I looked at the stuffed squirrel that was in my hands and sighed, releasing a small smile
"Hey Ally" I called her, walking calmly towards her. Ally turned around and I instantly carefully tossed the stuffed squirrel to her
Ally caught it and looked at the purple squirrel curiously "What is this?" She asked looking at me confused
"A small reward for obeying me" I said, sitting next to him, allowing the smallest mouse to jump into my hand "also, it was not as bad as I thought, so I decided to give you a memory"
Ally looked between me and the stuffed squirrel and smiled, giving me a surprise hug "Thanks Raya!" She thanked. I widened my eyes in incredulous, before grunting a little and rolling my eyes
"I knew I would regret it" I complained, while the smallest mouse hugged my neck gently