Novae stood tall and ready to fight, and from the bad feeling in her chest, she could tell that her worry was right this time. She could feel Haggar's dark magic coming from that horrible ball of fire. It fell faster and faster towards Earth's surface making everyone more fearful of another possible fight.
"No!" Allura gasped.
"Paladins, brace for impact." Keith warned everyone, "Hunk, help me with Shiro."
Hunk, who has landed not too long ago and ran out to the ground, headed over to Keith and Novae and took Shiro away to a more protective place. Novae, like everyone else, rushed back to their Lions if they were not already inside of them. In that instant, the strange object crashed into the ground, the area now covered in a thick layer of dust.
All of the Lions flew as far away as they could from the crashed object, avoiding the large amounts of dust and debris that was kicked up. However, just as quickly as the dust rose from the ground, it began to settle and revealed the new crashed invader.
There standing in front of the team was a large white mech. It was slim and looked like it could fight quite well if it was necessary to do so.
"Hunk, get Shiro to the Atlas. We'll cover you." Keith ordered.
"On it." Hunk replied.
As Hunk went to bring Shiro back to the Atlas, Novae glared at the strange white mech in both anger and determination to take it down.
"Zaurelia, can you tell me what this thing is?" She asked.
"I cannot, Novaleyia." The Lion answered, "All I can sense from this mech is a terrible dark magic akin to Haggar's. It is possible that this fighter is aligned with her somehow."
"Just do what you can to scan and assess this stranger."
"Understood Young Star."
The mech suddenly hummed with power taking Novae away from her conversation with the Gold Lion. The mech didn't hesitate for a second to begin its attack. It stood up straight, raised its right arm and fired a barrage of rapid fire at the Lions.
The Paladins dodged the attacks and spread out to further thin the attacks. The Black Lion attacked, firing its own beam at the mech, but this was not enough. The mech held up its weapon and spun it around to act as a shield and deflect the attack. Needless to say, the Lions' attacks were noneffective in making a dent in its white armor.
"That energy spectrum completely deflected our attack!" Allura shouted.
"If that's the case than this mech is much more dangerous than I had initially thought." Novae said, nicking her thumb to make the blood flow again so that Gold Lion could have a bit of a power boost, "Zaurelia is doing everything she can to analyze the enemy. Until I can get a clear answer on what it is, try to do whatever you can to avoid a direct attack from this thing."
"Shiro is aboard the Atlas." Hunk announced.
The mech finally stopped spinning its weapon and began to fire rapidly at the team again. The Paladins dodged and activated their Lions' jaw blades to go in for a closer attack, but every time they came in to attack, the mech blocked each one of them.
However, there was something different about this mech's attitude towards the Gold Lion. Instead of just attacking like with the other Lions, it was trying to subdue the Gold Lion. It would attack the Gold Lion like it did with the other Lions, but would follow up with one of its hands to throw the Gold Lion down to the ground.
"What is this trying to do with us?" Novae thought.
The Black Lion went in for through attack, but it was struck down. The mech ran up to the Black Lion with the intent to kill. But just as it was about to attack, all of our Lions fired their lasers to distract it so that Keith could escape.
"Keith, we got you covered. Get out of there!" Lance said, Keith taking advice and getting out of its range.
"Anyone have any idea where this thing came from?" Hunk asked.
"No clue." Pidge replied.
"I'm trying to figure that out, but this mech is moving too fast for Zaurelia to analyze properly." Novae announced.
The beast prepared to attack, aiming its lasers at the Yellow Lion.
"Hunk, watch out!" Novae shouted, knocking her lion into the Yellow Lion and pushing Hunk out of the way. The Gold Lion shed some of its armor and created a shield to block the blast.
Novae pushed more of her blood into the Gold Lion, but then she felt a large cold chill running up and down her spine. The same kind of chill that she would get whenever Haggar would torture her.
In that moment, Novae unconsciously pulled her power back and the blast broke through her shield. The Gold Lion was thrown back, but the mech quickly took a hold of it from the back and threw it to the ground.
Novae gasped from the sudden thrust to the ground, "Zaurelia, are you all right?"
"I am much better than you at the moment." Zaurelia said, "Just give me one moment. Our friends are coming to aid us."
Just as Zaurelia said, the other Lions came and attacked the mech. Slowly, as the mech was defending itself, it let its guard down and loosened its grip on the Gold Lion, allowing Novae to escape and help her friends in the battle.
"Novae, are you all right?" Pidge asked.
"I'm fine, just a little shaken from that sudden hit." Novae answered with a smile.
"We just defeated an entire Galra armada, and now this?" Allura shouted, her voice sounding irritated.
"Paladins...." Keith said, "I know we're all in bad shape... but we have strength together. This is Earth. This is our home.. We're going to defend it."
"And we'll be by your side!" Coran suddenly shouted as the Atlas hovered behind them.
The Atlas open fired at the mech and covered the entire area with dust and dirt.
"Good to have you back, Atlas." Allura said.
All of a sudden, from the dust cloud covering the mech, a large and powerful beam shot at the Atlas. The ship brought up its particle barrier, but the beam was too powerful and shattered it like glass.
After the direct hit on the Atlas, the Paladins went in again for another attack, but with no results. Not even a single scratch was being left on the white mech.
"Atlas, we need you to hold the beast back temporarily so we have time to form Voltron." Keith said as they kept on attacking, "It's the only way we're gonna beat this thing."
"Affirmative." Coran replied.
All six Lions flew into the air and formed Voltron in record time. They quickly flew back down and fired their lasers at the mech.
"Thanks for covering for us, Atlas." Keith said.
They landed on the ground and faced the mech. It quickly saw what had happened and adapted to the change in opponent. Using both hands, the mech gripped its weapon and transformed it. Now in its hand hands were two swords, sharpened and ready to take them down.
They all stared in shock at the brand new weapons the mech held, but just as they did, Lance and Pidge saw that their bayard ports had opened.
"Guys, my bayard port just opened." Lance said.
"Mine, too." Pidge added.
The two paladins shouted and pushed their bayards into the ports. The Green and Red Lions latched together and a bright light engulfed the two lions. They rested against Voltron's sides, holding twin blades in each hand. Novae gasped and smiled, rerouting some of her blood's power to the twin blades, covering it in a thin golden sheen signifying the added power. The mech ran up to them and initiated the battle of swords.
The mech pushed Voltron back with the force of the colliding swords. The Paladins' shook when the mech attacked again, not giving them any time to retaliate. Voltron spun around and tried to hit the mech with one of their swords, but it was expertly blocked and the mech pushed them back once again.
The mech took the opportunity and fired its laser at Voltron without restraint. The impact made Voltron drop their swords as they staggered backwards.
The mech disappeared for a moment, and then suddenly reappeared from above. The Paladins looked up and saw that the mech had jumped into the air and was ready to attack once more.
"Pidge, shield!" Keith shouted, "Novae, give the shield a boost!"
Pidge and Novae did as ordered, the Green Lion rose into the air and formed the shield while Novae pushed more power into it. The mech's attack was too powerful for the shield to defend against even with Novae's blood. The blade shot through the shield, broke it apart and dug the blades into Voltron's shoulders.
The Paladins all shouted in pain, screaming as electricity courses through their bodies from the attack. Novae gripped her controls even tighter than before, biting back the desire to scream out in agonizing pain. Her knuckles had turned white, even against her dark skin the change in color was visible and the pain in her eyes were all the more clear.
Novae cracked her eyes and saw a bright blue and white light cover the two blades the mech held and be transferred into the mech. Her breath was becoming quicker, her heart pounding even harder than before. It reminded her of something.
"A Komar." Zaurelia said, her voice slightly strained, "This mech's swords are acting the same as a Komar."
"That explains the quickening of my heart rate and my breathing rhythm." Novae gasped, "It's taking my quintessence as well, I can feel it. So it is Haggar who is doing this then. But why send a mech here, and who is inside piloting it?"
"I can feel a life form inside the mech, but I cannot detect what race they are from."
"I understand, just try to do what you can."
"We're coming in. Covering fire." The Paladins heard Griffin say through the comms.
They lazily watched through the windows of their cockpits as the fighters circled and attacked the mech from all angles.
Just then, without warning, the Green Lion arm rose and formed a cannon. It slammed into the mech's face, made a high-pitched hum and fired, making direct contact with it. The blast was powerful, throwing the beast back and landing on its back as Voltron stood tall. However, the Paladins were weakened and Voltron fell back down on one knee.
"Paladins, what happened? Are you okay?" Shiro asked.
"Those blades, they sapped our energy." Hunk informed weakly.
"It felt like the Komar." Pidge added.
"If that's the case, then that means that Haggar is behind this strange mech." Novae said.
"Haggar? But how would she--"
"That's not what we have to worry about right now." Novae cut Allura off, "For now, we focus on keeping the Earth safe by defeating this mech."
The dust cleared and the mech stood back up without a mark. It looked up towards the sky and stared at the fighters shooting at it. Of course, the mech retaliated and fired back, but missing on each attempt it made.
"Pilots, fall back. Those blasts can vaporize you." Keith said exhaling heavily.
"Keith's right. You've successfully drawn its fire. Rendezvous with the Atlas ASAP." Shiro ordered.
The pilots obeyed their orders and flew back to the Atlas, just as the mech drew its attention back to Voltron.
It rushed, raising its swords high into the air for the killing blow, when all of a sudden, the Atlas shot a powerful blast with its cannon from behind. The mech was pushed away from Voltron, but something else came afterwards. One of the mech's blades came cutting through the dust cloud, aiming straight for the Atlas. Luckily, the Atlas' shield was up in time, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep the ship secure.
The blade that hit the shield disabled it, just like it had with Voltron's shield only moments ago. The blade acted like a boomerang, returning to its owner who stood tall and prepared for the next attack.
In the center of its chest, a dark orb was formed, the crackle of purple and black electricity could be heard as the orb grew bigger by the second. Novae could feel it deep in her bones. This dark energy had remnants of her poisoned blood. There was no longer a doubt in her mind that Haggar was behind this attack on Earth.
Then, it happened. The orb grew larger and larger, until it turned into a dark beam and headed straight for the Atlas, hitting the target head on.
"The power this creature us generating is unheard of." Pidge said out of breath, "My surge indicators are spiking every time it's about the fire."
"That weapon the mech carries acts much like the Komar." Allura said.
"Then we'll have to avoid direct contact. Everyone, up!" Keith said.
It was difficult and straining, but the Paladins lifted Voltron off the ground, created new swords, then charged towards the mech. It continued to fire its deadly beam, but Voltron flew around them until they got close enough to hit it with their swords.
The mech pushed Voltron back and tried to hit them, but Allura pulled her controls back and made Voltron flip in the air to avoid the attack. They landed behind the mech and swung their swords for an attack.
But the mech was quick and dodged the attack, before elbowing Voltron in the head. The force threw Voltron back close to the camps where innocent people were trapped.
"Guys, we need to be careful. There are innocent lives down there!" Hunk said when we landed too close.
"Then let's take the fight to the sky!" Keith said.
As quickly as they could, the Paladins shot off into the sky in Voltron, the mech following them without hesitation and prepared for its next attack. The two pairs of swords clashed, sending shockwaves through the empty sky of space.
"Pidge, the cannon!" Keith shouted.
Pidge did as told and formed the cannon, immediately firing at the mech. However the attack was once again blocked by the mech spinning its swords. Voltron's attack was split and dispersed, raining down on Earth dangerously close to the Atlas.
"The Atlas!" Novae screamed.
"No!" Pidge shouted in fear and concern.
The mech seized the opportunity and flew towards Voltron, its sword striking directly through Voltron's chest. Novae's breath stilled, as part of her Lion was acting as a chest piece, causing her to feel the Lion's pain from the sudden attack. Voltron fell towards the ground, hitting hard enough to create a large crater.
The mech's blades sucked out as much quintessence as they could, leaving Voltron weak and unable to defend itself.
🦁🦁🦁~~~~🦁🦁🦁
Shiro panicked at the sight of Voltron being shot to the ground, pinned by the white mech.
"Shiro, the shields are gone and we don't have any countermeasures!" Coran shouted, "What do we do?"
"Captain, the cannons are still offline." Iverson shouted.
"It's charging up for another attack! What do we do, Shiro?"
"Shields are offline. Sir, what are your orders?" Veronica asked.
Everything around Shiro was being muffled together. He looked down, wondering what to do in this situation, when he caught a glimpse of his prostethic arm. All of a sudden, the console underneath his hand began to glow a cyan blue color. He looked up and saw that everything in the bridge was glowing the same color, but Shiro was the only one left in the room.
"I'm rerouting power, but we're at least five minutes out!" He heard Commander Holt announce, but Shiro was still alone. Just then, he saw something glowing by his right side. He looked down and saw something gold glowing. Shiro picked up whatever was glowing and saw that it was a small bottle of Novae's blood. She had placed several bottles within the Atlas before going to fight Sendak's fleet.
He didn't know why, but he smiled and opened the bottle. At that moment, everything came back to reality. The glow disappeared and the blaring alarms and red warning lights came back.
"Bring us up." Shiro ordered, "Set coordinates for upper atmosphere."
"But Voltron." Coran said.
"It'll be okay, I have an idea that just might work. Commander Holt, I need all the power we've got."
"Copy that." He said. The Atlas quickly powered its thrusters and flew towards the upper atmosphere. The glowing atmosphere came back, surrounding Shiro once again.
Shiro closed his eyes and tipped the bottle onto the console as they broke through to the upper atmosphere. The quintessence blood didn't just sink into the console, but instead also traveled diamond powering the Atlas. The diamond turned to a beautiful shade of gold.
Shiro opened his eyes again and felt a brand new sense of strength take hold of him, "Atlas crew, hold tight!" Shiro shouted.
🦁🦁🦁~~~~🦁🦁🦁
Everyone in Voltron slowly opened their eyes with whatever bit of strength that they had, their cockpits dark from the loss of power.
"Everyone, report in." Keith said, hoping that everyone was all right.
Hunk groaned, "I-I can barely move." He said.
"Voltron's power levels are depleted." Pidge announced.
"I've never seen anything this powerful before." Allura said.
"I've lost too much blood and quintessence. I can't help power Voltron so we can fight." Novae said.
"Guys, we have a problem." Lance announced.
Everyone saw the white mech walk closer to them, its swords ready to strike Voltron down for good this time. But then, the mech became dark as something hovered over it to create a shadow.
Just then, Novae felt something shift within her, as if a part of her far away was changing something else. She smiled and hoped that it was something good. And not a minute later, her hopes were realized.
A large machine came crashing down from the sky, a bright light held in its right hand as it landed on Earth. It was a humanoid mech, several times larger than Voltron but seemed similar in shape. Its right fist smashed into ground, but the mech saw the threat and flew off to escape the attack.
Through the clouds of dust, the new mech stood up and aimed its large arm cannon at the enemy mech. A large and powerful golden light was fired, chasing the mech before it flew into the air.
"Is that... the Atlas?" Lance asked completely speechless by the new appearance of the Atlas.
"This is incredible!" Novae said happily, staring at the new ship above them.
"Paladins, are you there? What's your status?" Shiro asked.
"We're here." Keith said, "How did you...?"
"I'm not exactly sure. But we've got you covered."
The Atlas turned towards the mech as it fired another laser. The large humanoid ship raised its hand and blocked the attack effortlessly. The enemy mech quickly came close and attacked, but the Atlas was able to block it once again.
Just then, the power shifted between the two. The mech began to glow a red violet color and its energy changed to a more sinister form. The mech charged towards the Atlas but the Atlas held out a hand to stop the beast. However, the purple glow became brighter. A transparent clone of the enemy mech suddenly appeared and collided with the Atlas.
Everyone was shocked by the sudden actions but were even more shocked when the clone grew bigger and slammed its weapon on the Atlas.
The clone disappeared, the mech dodging the Atlas' attempts of an attack. The mech flew behind the Atlas and summoned the clone again, slamming into the humanoid ship and striking it down to the ground.
The clone disappeared and the mech stuck its swords into the Atlas, sucking out all its power just like it did to Voltron.
With whatever strength the Paladins had left, they lifted Voltron up to its feet.
"We have to do something." Lance said as he coughed, "It's gonna destroy the Atlas."
The mech removed itself from the Atlas and charged up for another attack. Just then, Keith noticed something about the mech.
"That's it." Keith said, "It's the only place in that thing that isn't armored. We have to strike there right before it fires."
"That's a split second window." Allura said, "How do we do that?"
"Zaurelia, any ideas of how to make this plan work?" Novae asked.
"I believe I do. Listen closely..." Zaurelia quickly explained the plan and Novae listened. When the Gold Lion was finished, Novae thought that it was a good plan, albeit a little risky for her and the Paladins.
"Everyone, I have a plan." Novae said, "For this to work, we need to put everything we have into a single attack, that means we only have once chance to do this right. Are you with me?"
Everyone shouted "Yeah!"
Novae chuckled, "Perfect. Keith, Lance, I need to you to use your bayards. Insert them into their ports now."
Both Lance and Keith stuck their bayards in their slots and twisted as hard as they could, forming the wings and sword. Novae bled even more, causing the sword and the wings to gain an even brighter golden sheen to them.
Voltron stood tall, the light from the golden wings and sword slowly spreading over Voltron and creating an extra, much more powerful layer to protect them. Novae took in a deep breath and prepared herself for the upcoming final attack.
Voltron flew straight to the mech to attack. It tried to hit Voltron, but they were too fast for it. The mech missed Voltron several times before Voltron made their finishing move. With one last bit of a power boost, the sword struck straight through the mech's chest. The wings even split apart and stabbed the mech in several other weak points to ensure the effectiveness of the attack.
The colliding energies caused the mech to become conflicted with itself, and with that conflict, it was destroyed in a blinding flash of light. The next thing that the Paladins knew, they were waking up on the ground on Earth.
"Anyone? Hello?" Hunk asked, his voice strained and tired.
"I'm here." Pidge said.
"I'm here, too." Keith soon followed.
"Blue Lion, checking in." Allura said.
"I'm here as well." Novae answered.
"Did we do it? Did we beat that thing?" Lance asked.
The Paladins looked around and saw the beast laying lifelessly on the ground in a large crater. Finally it was all over.
"I think so." Keith said as we lifted our Lions back up onto their feet, "Atlas, what's your status?"
Unfortunately, there was no answer right away.
"Atlas, are you receiving us?" Novae asked, "Takashi, Atlas crew, can you hear me?" Once again there was no answer.
Just then, everyone's alarms began blaring in their ears.
"What is that?" Lance asked.
Pidge flew her Lion into the air and got a better signal from above.
"Surge indicators coming from that thing." Pidge said.
"I thought it was down."
"It is." Hunk said.
"Young Star." Zaurelia said, "That mech may not operate completely, but there is an incredible energy signature coming from it. A very destructive one."
Novae knew exactly what Zaurelia was implying, "Everyone, we need to get rid of this mech, now!" She shouted.
"What?" Keith asked.
"Novae's right. This thing is powering up." Hunk said slightly panicked, "It must have some kind of self-destruct mechanism."
"According to my readings, the blast radius alone will envelope half the Earth." Pidge explained.
"Then let's get it out of here.." Keith said determined.
They all knew what they had to do. The Lions were positioned underneath the mech and flew into the upper atmosphere. Though she was dizzy from blood loss, Novae continued to push her blood through the Gold Lion to make her more powerful.
"It's been an honor to fly with you all." Keith said, "Now, everyone, give it everything you've got!"
The Paladins pushed their thrusters to their max. Novae smiled as they flew back into the stars, not worried in the slightest about what might happen, because she knew that they would be all right.
The Lions stopped in the upper atmosphere, letting the mech float off into space. Everything that happened next... happened in a flash of light. The mech exploded in front of the Lions. The light blinded the Paladins and shot down back to Earth's surface.
Novae turned her head after landing near the Garrison, seeing the beautiful sunset along the horizon. It reminded her so much of her home Estellia.
"This planet... it's beautiful, isn't Zaurelia?"
"Indeed it is, Young Star. And you helped save it. Perhaps when the war is over, you could ask Takashi to show you the wonders of this planet."
Novae smiled and chuckled, her consciousness fading away bit by bit.
"I do hope I can.... It would be nice...."