Season One Episode Two: Some Assembly Required
Millie scrunched up her face as Dallas insisted on licking it. She turned over to try and go back to sleep, but her Luxray just jumped up on her bed and continued.
She sighed, giving in, and sat up. She yawned, stretched, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she looked around her room. Scout was laying at the foot of the large bed, Dallas probably slept right next to her, and her new Zorua was laying in the corner of the room by the door.
"C'mere," Millie called, hoping to get the Zorua to go over to her. The Zorua looked up at the human girl from where she was curled up in the corner and sniffed, laying her head back down.
Millie got up and walked over to the Zorua, picking her up and cradling her in her arms. "We need to name you," she rd the Zorua.
The tiny creature struggled to escape, but it was no use. She eventually just gave up and slumped over, giving in to Millie and her name-giving.
"You need a sassy name," Millie decided. "What about... Lauren?" The Zorua glared at her new trainer. "Okay... Lillian?" She looked away from the girl, obviously unimpressed with the name.
"Blake?" Millie suggested. The Zorua contemplated for a bit. The Zorua seemed happier about the name than the other options, and her tail started wagging ever so slightly.
"Okay, Blake it is," Millie said. She put the Zorua down, and Blake walked back over to the corner. "Blake, I can tell you're not happy about any of this, but don't you agree that it's at least better than living in that cave all by yourself?"
Blake flattened her ears against her head, and Millie took that as a sign that she didn't agree. "I can let you roam around the castle a bit, but you have to promise me something," Millie said, crouching down to the floor. Blake's ears perked up a bit at the mention of free roam around the castle. "You have to stay close enough that I can see you, at least until I know that I can trust you." Blake's ears dropped again.
"Do you agree?" Millie asked. The Zorua sighed before nodding. "Great! I'll be leaving Dallas out, though, so that he can help me keep an eye on you."
Millie stood back up, ready to start preparing for the day. Everyone was going to train, so Millie's Pokémon were excited to see how their Trainer would do.
Millie started getting ready for the day, and as soon as she grabbed her bayard alarms started going off. Scout jumped up and ran over to Dallas, hiding by him.
"Everybody up, Zarkon's attacking!" Allura yelled over the speakers. "The castle is about to be destroyed! We need Voltron! Now!"
Millie returned Blake and Scout to their Pokéballs, leaving Dallas to run with her to the control room. Even though Millie new that, given there was no noise other than Allura screeching and alarms blaring, it was just a test, she still didn't want to be late.
Millie got there first, and got to watch everything that went down as the others probably raced to get there. Coran grabbed the mic, supposedly with the intention to show Allura how it was done, but started over-dramatizing it. If the others hadn't figured out that it was a test before, they were sure to.
"Coran," Allura said.
"Yes Princess? What is it? I'm listening," Coran said.
"It's over," Allura said. All the alarms shut off and stuff as Allura noticed everyone else.
"I know! If only Voltron had been formed!" Coran said. He looked up and noticed everyone. "Oh. Time!"
"I'm guessing this isn't an actual attack," Shiro said.
"And it's a good thing it wasn't, because it took you..." Allura said. "Coran?"
"Seventy-five degrees!" Coran said. "Wait! Sorry, this is a meat thermometer!"
"How ever long it took, it was too long. You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon," Allura said. "Look at you! Only Shiro is in uniform, and Millie is the only one with her bayard."
"Princess, you only gave them, like, two seconds. Not everyone wakes up at some ridiculous time like you did, and not everybody has been asleep for the past ten thousand years," Millie said.
"Where is Lance?" Allura asked, mad.
Lance decided that it was the perfect moment to walk through the doors. He had a cup of water, was dressed in a robe, and had blue lion slippers on.
"Good morning everybody. What's going on?" he asked.
"Coran and I have been up for hours working on the castle. We had to run a test on the alarms and decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed," Allura said, glaring at Lance.
Millie looked at Dallas, annoyed that she had to go through all of this just after waking up earlier than she normally would have. She sighed in annoyance as Hunk told Allura all the things that Millie had previously said, just with different wording.
"You must understand the stakes of our mission," Allura said. "Over the last ten thousand years, I have picked up distress beacons from the following locations." A bunch of specks flew around the room, showing off which locations had been taken over by Zarkon. "Earth is here. An attack on your planet is inevitable."
"Oh no," Hunk said.
"Exactly, and that is why we have to free all of those planets," Allura said. "Coran and I are getting the castle ready to leave Arus, and during that time you have to learn to form Voltron, so that we can defeat Zarkon."
"The Princess is right," Shiro said. "We need to get to our lions and begin training."
"But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship," Pidge said.
"Negative, Number Six," Coran said. "I have you ranked by height, okay? The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow."
"That's right," Allura said. "New everyone get to your lions!"
Everyone went to little elevator things, which took them to put on their armour, which then took them to a zip line, and then to a tunnel slide, which dropped them in a speeder thing, and then finally they got to another elevator, which took them to their lions.
"That was a bit unnecessary," Millie grumbled. She flew her lion over and landed it with the others, waiting with them as they waited for Hunk.
"Should someone go in after him?" Lance asked. The Yellow Lion flew out from behind the castle at that very moment.
"Hey everybody. Couldn't they park these things a little closer to the control room?" Hunk asked as he landed his lion by everyone else's
"Alright everyone. Let's just fly in formation until we're completely in sync," Shiro said.
"Feel the bond with your lions and with your fellow Paladins, until five become one and you form Voltron," Allura said, her face appearing on everyone's screens.
Everyone took off, all yelling in excitement. Everytime they flew around, they would cheer, but they eventually realised that it wasn't working and stopped yelling, all except for Hunk, and they decided to take a break.
"Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up," Keith suggested.
"What do you mean?" Shiro asked.
"I mean let's try stacking on top of each other. Like, litterally build Voltron," Keith explained.
"You mean like a cheerleader pyramid?" Millie asked, suddenly curious as to how it would play out.
"Yeah. Exactly like that," Keith said.
"Have you ever been a cheerleader?" Lance asked. "Now that would be something I would be interested in seeing. Millie in a cheerleader outfit. Can you guys imagine-"
"Lance, that's enough," Shiro said.
"No, I've never been on a cheerleading team. I was never really interested in it either, even though everyone at school told me I would be a good cheerleader," Millie said, answering Lance's question. Her answer made him whine, knowing that it was never and would never be a reality.
After a while of everyone carefully putting their lions in position, they were finally stacked. But it wasn't in the right position.
Pidge and Lance were on the bottom, supporting Keith and Shiro's back legs. Shiro's front legs were on top of Keith, Millie's lion was trying desparetly not to slide off of the back of the Black Lion, and Hunk stood on top of Millie and Shiro.
"Hunk, what are you doing?" Shiro asked.
"What do you mean?" Hunk asked.
"You're supposed to be the leg, over there," Shiro told him.
"What? No, I'm pretty sure that last time when we did it, I was the head," Hunk said.
"You yelled that you were a leg!" Lance exclaimed.
"Yeah, well I was yelling a lot of things," Hunk said.
"I'm getting out of this," Millie said. She jumped out from under Hunk's back legs, causing them to fall into Shiro and slide off, which caused Shiro's lion to topple over, knocking down the others as he left.
After a lot more debating, they finally switched around to their correct positions. Shiro mumbled to himself as he lowered his lion, landing on the Red and Green Lions, and also behind the White Lion, which stood sideways on the Green and Red Lion heads.
After a couple minutes of nobody speaking, it still didn't work. They all landed, deciding to take a break.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I believe that I can help," Allura said. "I'm the last battle, you were only able to form Voltron when your lives were in danger. It just so happens that I have to test the castle's weapons, and I can fire at you, which might make it easier for you guys to bond!"
The particle barrier went up, and lasers started shooting out from it. Everyone scattered, running to protect themselves from the ship.
"Allura, what are you doing?" Keith asked.
"Running a diagnostic test on the castle defenses and inspiring you," Allura said. "I believe in you! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!" she cheered.
"Forget this! I'm heading back to the castle!" Lance said. He started running back to the castle, dodging every shot that came his way, until he could jump at the particle barrier.
His lion collided with the barrier, but he just bounced off and received a minor shock. Everyone ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, while Millie's lion didn't seem to concerned about it so it laid down.
"Millie, what are you doing?" Pidge asked.
"I dunno. My lion doesn't think it's that big of a deal though," Millie replied. She almost instantly knew why though, because her lion's white particle barrier went up around it.
Millie looked around, watching ad the others yelled and ran, while explosions went off all over. She leaned back in her chair, wondering what their next real fight would be like, and when they would get off of the planet.
After a while, the castle stopped shooting and the particle barrier went down, so everyone went inside to get a break. Millie got a drink before heading to join the others in the lounge. She went up the steps, leading to the platform that was level with the top of the U-shaped couch. She sat down there, holding her cup while everyone talked.
Allura eventually came in with Coran trailing behind her. The two Alteans talked about random things concerning the castle defenses, and Allura looked ecstatic when she saw the Paladins.
"You did it! You formed Voltron!" the Princess exclaimed.
"No, the shooting stopped and the particle barrier went down so we just flew in," Keith said.
"What?" Allura asked, any traces of enthusiasm gone from her voice.
"Oh right," Coran said. "Sorry Princess, but I had to turn of the defense systems so that I could test the fire suppressors."
"What are you guys doing in here?" Shiro asked, walking through the door. "We're not taking a break."
"Shiro's right," Allura said. "You should be training."
Everyone groaned, but Hunk was the one to speak up. "We've been training. When are we going back to Earth?" he asked.
"I'm not going back until I find my family," Pidge said.
"Guys, there won't be an Earth if we can't find a way to stop Zarkon," Shiro said.
"How are we going to fight?" Lance asked. "We can't even find a way to form Voltron."
"Well, I'm not surprised. Y'know, the original Paladins fought tons of battles together. They were like a pack of Yelmores. Linked at the ears," Coran said.
"Yeah, that's deffinetly not us," Lance said, flopping over.
"During the last attack, your survival instincts kicked in, forcing you to work as a team, but that will only get you so far. You're gonna have to become a real team if you want to fight Zarkon next time. You should try working on the training deck," Coran said.
"There's a training deck?" Hunk asked.
---
Everyone stood in a circle as Coran had instructed them to do. Coran explained to them how everything would work. Drones were going to attack them, and they had to protect their teammates or else nobody could protect them.
They each got shields and little round drones swarmed the team, forming a circle so that they could attack from all angles.
A drone shot at Hunk, and he ducked, allowing the shot to hit Pidge in the back, who proceeded to fall down a tube.
"Protect your teammates before there's nobody to protect you," Coran reminded them.
Hunk also got shot while he was distracted, and the four who were left backed up to form a tight circle. Millie and Shiro were back to back, while Lance and Keith were also back to back.
"Time to increase intensity," Coran said over the speakers. The drones sped up and started shooting more in response.
Millie could just barely hear Keith and Lance arguing, and then there was a sudden emptiness at her side, quickly followed by emptiness on her other side, and then yet another emptiness behind her. Despite being confused at what happened, she still moved the shield around to block incoming attacks.
"Millie, maybe you should just give up. There's nobody for you to protect," Coran said.
"I'm pretty sure that just because your teammates died doesn't mean that you can give up," Millie said, continuing to block attacks from around her.
"Now that's what I call fighting spirit!" Coran said excitedly.
Millie allowed her shield to go down as soon as the drones around her stopped and fell to the floor.
---
After trying and passing a test with a combination of invisible walls, electric shocks, and Hunk as her guide through the maze, everyone was in their lions. They prepared to do a new test, which was supposed to strengthen the bond between them and their lions.
Coran explained the exercise to them. It sounded simple enough, but Millie groaned when he said that it should only be attempted by highly trained pilots, which was not something that Millie was.
Millie, along with everyone else, put her lion into a nosedive. At that moment, Coran activated the training helmets, which made it so that nobody could see anything.
"You must learn to see through your lions eyes. Feel what the lion feels!" Coran told them.
Millie took a couple deep breaths, calming herself down. Ignoring everyone else, who was either bickering, panicking, or Shiro, she closed her eyes and focused on her lion.
She could actually feel the connection with her lion grow stronger, and suddenly she was looking at the ground. Everything felt so weird, and moving felt like a struggle. She grasped the controls and sudden determination swelled up inside of her, urging her to keep going.
She looked over and noticed Shiro still going, too. The Black Lion didn't falter as it grew closer to the ground, in fact, it seemed perfectly fine.
Millie moved her lion and it did a backflip, using the wall of the canyon they were in to propel itself forwards. It ran along the ground for a minute before taking to the sky, rapidly catching up to Shiro.
"This isn't a race, you know," Millie called to him. The Black Lion slowed down, and Millie, still looking through the White Lion's eyes, sped her lion up, flying way in front of Shiro. "But I would be winning if it was!"
Shiro chuckled and urged his own lion to move faster. "I thought you said it wasn't a race!" he said.
"It wasn't until I was in the lead!"
Millie had her lion take a sharp turn up, flying against the canyon wall as if it were the floor of the canyon. She looked and saw Shiro catching up, so she turned on the boosters and shot forwards.
She shot up, being met with the castle as soon as she turned her lion the right way. She landed her lion on the ground, still excited over what had happened.
Everyone went back inside and Coran set them up with a different machine. It was a machine to show a person's thoughts, so Millie was a bit nervous. The machine started up, and pictures appeared in front of everyone of what they were thinking of most.
Eventually, everyone's thoughts morphed into figures of everyone's lions. They moved towards the center to combine into Voltron, but Pidge didn't have his lion in his mind. After trying again, it still didn't work. Coran gave everyone juice pouches but filled with water instead, and they all took a break.
Millie sat down on the ground. "Man, this whole Voltron thing is a lot harder than I expected," she said.
"Yeah," Keith agreed. "And it doesn't help that nothing we try works."
Millie was about to open her mouth and say something, but it was interrupted by Allura coming into the room.
"What are you doing, you lazy lumps!" the Altean princess yelled. "Get up! It's time you faced the gladiator!"
---
Everybody had their weapons ready as Coran explained how the gladiator worked. Millie stood with her back facing the others, watching, making sure to be ready if the gladiator dropped down in front of her.
After a silent minute, the gladiator did drop down, but it was faster than anyone expected. Before too long everyone was down except for Millie.
The gladiator turned its gaze towards the girl before running at her, and Millie started lashing her whip wildly around at the robot, trying to somehow manage to defeat it. She brought up her shield, defending herself from attacks from its staff, before dispersing her shield, going offensive, and repeating her process.
All too soon, though, the gladiator had realized her strategy and struck her when she was weak, effectively sending her a few feet back, clutching her stomach where the gladiator's electrified staff had gotten her.
The gladiator, having defeated all of its set opponents, powered off, revealing Allura.
"That combat simulator was at a level fit for an Altean child!" Allura said. "You're not even close to working as a team, much less facing Zarkon."
---
After the gladiator thing, Millie started to feel off, so she went to her room (much to the protests of Allura). Once she had gotten to her room, Dallas was already waiting outside of his Pokéball to greet her. Millie ran her fingers through his soft fur a couple times after laying down.
Dallas looked at Millie, confused as he sensed that her demeanor had shifted since she put his Pokéball in her room so that she could train. He watched as her breath, which had become jagged and rough, turned to deep breaths.
"I don't know what's going on, Dallas," Millie told the Luxray. "I really don't. I've never really gotten sick like this before."
Dallas laid his head on Millie, hoping that the weight would help to soothe her. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he still tried to comfort her in any way he knew how, and that brought a smile to Millie's face.
She calmingly stroked Dallas's head between his ears, and the Luxray felt relaxed at this. Millie steadily fell into a dreamless sleep.
---
Millie was woken up to see Pidge hovering over her. "Hey, we're ready to try forming Voltron again if you are," he told her. Millie groaned and pushed herself up, and Pidge left the room.
Millie looked over to Dallas, who was watching her expectantly. "You wanna come help form Voltron with me?" Millie groggily asked. Dallas yawned and stretched before hopping off of the bed. Millie got up not long after and led the way.
---
After forming Voltron, the team had gathered in the lounge. They were all talking about how tired they were and stuff, but Millie wasn't really paying attention. Dallas was laying on the couch, and Millie was above him, hanging over the back and petting him.
After a bit of Millie pretending to pay attention to what everyone was saying but not actually paying attention, people started leaving the room. By the end, only Pidge and Millie were left.
Millie finally snapped out of her haze and looked over at Pidge, noticing him staring at his picture of what was supposed to be him and his girlfriend.
"That's not actually you and your girlfriend, huh?" Millie asked, having moved so that she was almost right behind Pidge.
Pidge was silent for a minute before sighing. "No. It's me and my brother, Matt," he said.
"So you're the girl, then?" Millie asked. She realised how stupid of a question it was as soon as it came out of her mouth, and Pidge knew that Millie had realised her mistake, as the younger girl only kept her mouth shut and smirked.
Everything fell silent once more before Pidge spoke again. "What's you're family like?" she had asked. Millie was taken aback by the question.
"They..." She paused, deciding what to say next. "They died. In a car crash five years ago," she confessed. Pidge looked mortified.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," Pidge said.
"No, it's fine," Millie said. "It was five years ago. I need to stop moping around about it anyways. I'm not gonna get anywhere if I don't."
"I guess I should be going to bed now, huh?" Pidge said. She pushed herself up from where she was sitting and Millie sighed.
"I guess I should do the same," she said. She touched a finger to her forehead, flinching when she felt it was almost unnecessarily hot."I can already feel that weird sickness coming back."
FINALLY FINISHED THIS AGAIN
Ugh. Wattpad decided to be a bitch and delete half of my work, so I kinda lost motivation for this for a while, but hey, I got it done... eventually...
But good news! None of the other chapters have been deleted as far as I know, so... y'know!