Season One Episode Eight: Rebirth
"Oh no," was all Pidge said, breaking the awkward silence between the team.
"Please tell me there's no a giant monster in here," Hunk pleaded. "Please tell me it's empty. Or filled with candy. Either one of those would be fine."
"I don't think it's a piñata, Hunk," Lance said.
"If it's the same kind of monster that we battled on Arus, then we already know how to beat it," Keith said.
"Whatever it is, we'll still have to keep it from hitting the planet," Millie said.
Keith formed Voltron's sword, and Pidge brought up the shield. "Hold your ground!" Shiro yelled.
The capsule started to open, releasing smoke as it did so, and the walls fell apart to reveal the monster inside. The red robot raised its head and the green, chameleon-like eyes on it lit up. One eye was larger than the other.
The creature shoved its chest forwards and a green laser shot out of the chest. Voltron blocked the laser with his shield, but it still pushed the team back.
"That is not candy!" Hunk yelled.
"It's not the same monster, either," Lance said.
Voltron flew out of the way of the laser, leaving it to crash into the Balmera.
"We need to draw its fire away from the Balmera," Shiro said.
"Fly up into the air. It should follow you and that way the Balmera wont be hit," Millie suggested.
"Good idea, Millie."
Before they could even do anything, the robot raised itself into the air and shot a laser. Voltron raised his shield to block the laser, but the weight of the laser made them all groan as it tried to push them down.
As soon as the laser stopped, they flew around in circles, trying to not get hit by the lasers that the monster kept firing at them. They flew at it and tried slicing it with the sword, but that didn't work, as the monster dodged and shot at them, knocking them away.
After a bit more of dodging, attacking, blocking lasers, running away from lasers, and even getting their shield knocked away once, they finally decided to disband.
"It can't hit all of us at once, right?" Millie asked.
"I wouldn't be too sure, we don't know what this thing can do," Keith said.
As if the creature could hear Millie and wanted to prove her wrong, it raised its arms, revealing lots of little eyes, all of which shot a bunch of lasers. Millie flew her lion around, dodging lasers as best as she could, but she was hit by one and her lion fell to the ground.
"What was what about it not being able to shoot all of us at once?" Lance asked jokingly.
"Ha ha. Now if someone could help, I can't move my lion," Millie said, moving the controls to no avail.
"Keith, protect Millie!" Shiro quickly shouted, seeing the robot charging up its chest laser to shoot Millie. The Red Lion rushed protectively in front of Millie, preparing to block the laser from hitting her, but a shot from the castle distracted the creature.
Millie blocked all sound out of her mind as she focused only on getting her lion working again. She could just barely see and hear the others fighting the robot as she frantically pushed buttons, any and all that looked like it might help.
"Paladins, get to the tunnels," Shiro called. Millie felt her lion getting lifted into the air and taken into the mines.
Her lion was gently set down once they got to the bottom of the mine, in the same mineshaft as Shiro, Hunk, and Keith. Millie got up from her seat, trying to see if there was some other problem with her lion.
"Millie are you alright?" she heard Shiro asked.
"I'm fine, but I wish I could say the same for my lion," Millie replied.
"I'm coming in to help," Keith said.
Not too long after, she heard footsteps against the metal floor of her lion. She messed around with wires, trying to find whatever was keeping her lion from working, and Keith joined her, but it still felt useless. As they both messed with random things, Millie heard a roar.
Well, she didn't necessarily hear it, it just sort of filled her ears. She looked over to Keith, seeing him undisturbed. She was about to ask if he heard the roar, but she heard it again, this time keeping her eyes on Keith to see if he heard it too.
Keith looked up at her, noticing her stare. "You okay?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah, I just think I know what to do now," Millie said. She ran off to the cockpit, sitting in the chair. Keith came up behind her and she gripped one of the handles with one hand, leaving the other one free.
Her bayard materialized in her hand as she summoned it, and she slammed it into the slot, closing her eyes and hoping- praying that it would work. A sudden surge of energy moved over her, into the tips of her fingers and finally it moved to the bayard she was clinging onto. When she opened her eyes, she saw the light blue light turn to the normal shade of white.
"I got it," Millie said, smiling to Keith. She saw him pause a moment before giving her a soft smile back.
"Millie, your lion is working again," Shiro said, noticing the mechanical beast standing up.
"Yep, I think I'm good to go now," Millie said.
"Okay, good. Keith, you get back to your lion, we're going up," Shiro said.
Millie allowed Keith out of her lion, and she watched as he ran over to his own lion. Shiro was the first to fly out of the mine, quickly followed by the others, who all gave the monster staring into the mine quick shots from their lion's lasers.
The creature let out sort of a muffled roar and started flying after the four lions as they flew off. Pidge and Lance were behind it, just making sure nothing happened.
"Okay, we've provoked, now it's time to evade!" Hunk yelled. Millie tugged around at the controls and her lion shot up as a laser was about to hit her, soaring above the green beam of light.
She turned around suddenly and shot her own icy blue laser at the robot, making it roar once again and fly at her.
"Millie, watch out!" Pidge called to the girl. Millie moved out of the way quick, leaving the creature to fly past her.
After what felt like a lifetime of fighting, Millie had become so focused on fighting the creature that she everything expect for her and the robot had become a blur. She would dodge a laser or two, attack the monster, and then repeat the process. After a while, she had found the monster's weakness.
If she could just time a shot well enough, she would be able to hit an eye per shot while the lasers were charging up. It was just a second or two long, but she could do it if she timed it just right.
She lined up a shot and waited. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as the monster's laser went away on the eye she was focused on. She moved her thumb to press down on the button to fire the laser.
"Millie!" Shiro yelled. "Are you there?"
The sudden snap back to her senses had startled her, and her aim was knocked a little off course. She growled in annoyance and turned to look at the Black Lion.
"Yeah I'm here," Millie simply replied.
"I know what to do! We have to form Voltron!" Hunk quickly explained.
"Form Voltron!" Shiro yelled.
They did as they were told and soon, the metallic warrior was stood on the Balmera. The team looked to the robot, who was preparing a huge attack for the castle, but Voltron quickly stopped it with a laser to the head.
Voltron formed a shoulder cannon, and the creature started charging up a powerful laser using all of it's eyes. The two lasers collided, but the robot's laser was much more powerful, easily overtaking them.
"We're gonna have to find something different," Hunk said, grunting. Voltron moved slightly so that the monster's laser was directed away from the castle.
They kept flying around, dodging as the monster fired all sorts of lasers at them.
"Guys, there's a slight opening after the thing fires its lasers. It's only a second long, put it you time a well-aimed shot, it should be able to take an eye or two out each shot," Millie said.
"But there are, like, a hundred eyes!" Lance exclaimed. "It'll take forever to take them all out!"
"Does anyone else have a different idea?" Shiro asked. When he heard everyone uncertain groans, he took that as an answer and decided to carry through on Millie's plans.
Suddenly, a screen appeared on everyone's windshield, showing the lasers locking on to each of the monster's eyes.
"Are you guys seeing this?" Hunk asked.
"Roger that," Keith replied.
"We'll only have to use one shot now," Millie said.
"Alright, everyone," Shiro said. "Engage!"
The shoulder cannon formed again, but this time it fired tons of little tiny shots, hitting all the eyes on the monster's arms. Everyone cheered as the monster fell to the ground, little explosions going off on its arms.
They watched as a bright blue light covered the surface of the Balmera, all of them gasping at the magnificent sight before them. The slowly went back down to the Balmera to celebrate their accomplishment, but the laser monster looked up quickly, roaring yet again as it slowly stood up.
After a bit more dodging, they finally went up to the monster and punched it. The monster went flying away, and then it powered down. Voltron flew back down to the Balmera, landing carefully on it.
They disbanded into separate lions, and they quickly got out to go see the princess, who was laying almost limply in Shay's arms. As they reached the two Alteans and five Balmerans, the Paladins all gasped in disbelief as the ground shook and the robot rose.
The creature charged up a laser, but before it could do anything, Balmeran crystals began to encase it.
"No way," Hunk gasped in disbelief.
"The Balmera just saved us," Coran said.
"Look at the crystals!" Allura exclaimed. Millie looked around at the beautiful crystals beginning to emerge from the ground.
"Who's a good Balmera? You are! Yes, you are!" Hunk cooed to the Balmera. Millie turned around and saw him scratching the Balmera.
"Hunk what are you doing?" Millie asked, putting a hand on her forehead.
"What? The Balmera is a living creature and it just saved us! It more than deserves our praise!" Hunk said, back to his normal voice. He quickly went back to his cooing, though. "And besides, it loves my scratches!"
---
Millie sat on the edge of a cliff, enjoying the first few rays of sunshine warming her skin. She looked at the breathtaking view as the sun slowly rose from over the horizon, the light reflecting off of all the crystals.
Hunk had insisted on staying on the Balmera long enough to experience Shay's first sunrise with her, and that was exactly what they did. Hunk and Shay were somewhere watching it.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Millie heard Keith ask. She jumped a bit and looked to him, brushing her sideswept bangs out of the way.
"Yeah," Millie sighed. Down below her she could see a couple Balmeran children playing with her Pokémon, who she had released to let them enjoy the fresh air. She kept a close eye on Blake. "Y'know, I've always liked children," she suddenly said. She could basically hear Keith's blush.
"O-oh yeah? Why?" Keith asked. Millie breathed in a deep breath of the cool air, warming up from the sun's bright rays.
"I dunno. Whenever I would see a child on their way home from school, I just always felt a sense of warmth, knowing that at least maybe they were having a better life than I did. At least maybe they had a family," Millie replied. "But then again, the thought of having a child of my own terrified me, and it still kinda does."
"And why's that?" Keith sat down beside her.
"What-..." She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath as she pulled her knees towards her chest. "What if something were to happen to me? It wouldn't be me I was worried about, it would be about the child. I would never want a child to endure what I had to. Ever."
She felt tears prick at the corner of her eyes, and arms were wrapped around her in a tight hug. Her eyes widened before closing shut, and she buried her face into Keith's shirt as tears began to fall down her face. It took a few moments, but she eventually stopped crying and pushed away from Keith, wiping her face off.
"Sorry," Millie said, scoffing at herself.
"Hey, it's okay," Keith said, grabbing her chin and turning it so that she was looking at him. His dark purple eyes were locked onto her icy blue ones, and neither seemed to be able to look away. They didn't break eye contact until Keith brought his face closer to hers, closing his eyes and pressed his lips softly against hers.
Millie's eyes widened as she was snapped out of whatever trance was was in, and she realised what was going on. She considered pulling away for a moment, but she still ended up melting into the kiss.