Season Two Episode One + Two: Across the Universe + The Depths
Millie, despite having crashed on a strange planet with no way to know where she was, or where her team was, stumbled out of the cockpit of her lion, and onto the plush blue-green grass of the planet she was on. Her vision was slightly blurred from the crash and she could almost feel her consciousness trying to flee from her.
"A female beta?" a voice whispered from behind her.
Millie pushed herself up and looked around, trying to find the owner of the voice, but she could barely see anything except for terrain.
"Do you think she has a mate yet?" another voice whispered.
"Of course she has a mate! You can smell an alpha scent on her!" yet another hissed.
"But it's faint and Galra," someone else pointed out. "Nobody would just allow a galra to claim them, and she could put up a fight. Look at her!"
"Hello?" Millie called out. "I don't know where I am. Can someone help me?"
With that, someone materialized in front of her. They stood at about nine feet tall, had dark skin and dirty blonde hair, and a well-built yet feminine figure. The woman's cat-like eyes fixated on her.
"Hello, darling," she said. "Don't mind them. They're just excited to see another beta, specifically a female beta."
"What does that mean?" Millie asked. "Who are you? Where am I?"
"My name is Hyria, and I can assure you that there is no need to be afraid," the woman replied. "Please, allow me to take you back to our village. There you will get some proper treatment for any injuries you may have gotten in your crash."
Not knowing what else she could do, Millie accepted the offer. A couple dozen more people materialized after Hyria made a certain gesture, each one varying in size, shape, gender, and looks. They all shared abnormally large heights by human standards, easily ranging anywhere from seven feet to ten, their cat eyes, and the same basic outfits.
---
Hyria had taken Millie to the opening of a cave. Every so often on the trip, people would go up to Millie and sniff her, but after a simple glare from Hyria they would back off.
"Our village is in here," Hyria said, motioning to the cave entrance.
"Why in a cave?" Millie asked. Hyria looked to the seemingly small, silvery cave.
"After we were driven from our home planet by the Galra, we took up refuge here. The planet is mostly abandoned except for a few different animal species, which made it easy for us to create a home here with little to no interference from any locals," Hyria explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Millie apologized. Hyria shook her head.
"Don't be. This planet is more than enough for us. It took a bit for us to get used to how unadvanced the planet is, but we're happy here."
Millie opene her mouth to ask something else, but shut it after deciding against it. Instead, she followed Hyria into the small cave opening, and the magical barrier washed away as soon as she stepped inside.
Instead of a dark, dingey cave, Millie found herself standing in the middle of a beautiful pathway inside the cave. Glowing crystals on the ceiling illuminated the silvery walls in an assortment of calming hues, ranging anywhere from light blue, to pale purple, and even a pastel pink.
Along the pathway, a lot of different plants thrived in the soil inside the cave. Ferns and flower bushes lined the path, separated from the path by a barrier made from smooth, soft pink oval rocks, and flowing vines grew on the wall of the cave.
Looking around, Millie noticed how many people were watching her, amused by how easily she was enraptured by sights they had spent their whole lives seeing. She was almost jealous. She would have given up so much to have gotten to live in such a beautiful place.
When they had finally gotten to the actual village, which was about a fifteen minute walk from the opening of the cave, Millie was absolutely stunned.
More of the blue-green grass made up the floor of the whole village, and dirt pathways were once again lined by stones. A crystal blue river ran straight through the middle of the village, coming from a waterfall on one of the walls, and everything was once again illuminated by beautiful crystals on the cave ceiling.
There was one big crystal, probably at least a good hundred feet in diameter. There was a rather large tree underneath it, which looked sort of like an oak, but had white wood and blue leaves and golden vines. The tree also seemed to glow.
Hundreds of houses made from hollowed out boulders were sprinkled throughout the huge cavern, and there was still a load of extra space.
Any empty space was filled mostly with a variety of plants, ranging from magical flowers that seemed to be made from glass, to berry bushes producing vibrantly colored berries of various shapes and sizes, to normal ferns.
There were about twenty small arenas for fighting in, an amphitheater, a large dining pavilion, and a few tunnels leading to places unknown.
"You will not have to worry about your lion," Hyria told Millie. "We shall bring it to the workshop soon, so that it will be safe an undetectable by Galra technology."
"Oh, um. Thank you," Millie said, nodding in respect.
Someone came running up to the group before anything else could be said, and everyone's attention directed towards the green-haired girl.
"Yes, Adeline. What is it?" Hyria asked the girl.
Adeline quickly became flustered by all the attention she was receiving, and muttered a few things, but jumped soon. "The council!" she squeaked. "They need you. The Scouts have still brought up nothing, and the Nature Guardians are turning against Rosa!"
"Who's Rosa? Why are Nature Guardians turning against her?" Millie asked.
"Rosa is our Leader," Hyria explained. "Lately one of our Nature Guardians has gone missing, and the other two have placed the blame on Rosa. We must hurry and hope that we can buy more time for her."
---
After rushing to the giant tree in the middle of the village, Hyria had insisted on Millie staying outside, saying that the Nature Guardians could get quite cranky. Millie was fine though, she took some time to work on healing Suicune, who was still suffering from some heavy blood loss.
"I need something to use as a bandage," Millie said to the barely-conscious Suicune. It groaned half-heartedly, but showed no other signs that it could even register its surroundings.
Rummaging around in what little supplies she had, Millie had come up with nothing. She frantically searched around to see if she could find anything around her that could work, and she looked up at the ceiling, seeing the deep blue leaves of the tree.
They were fairly decent sized, and she knew that if she got closer they would grow to be much larger. She just had to climb up the tree to get one. And, thankfully, she had used to do a lot of tree climbing as a kid.
She gripped the rough bark in her hands and searched for a foothold. The first few times she had moved up the tree were surprisingly easy, but she eventually lost her grip on one of her fistfuls of bark. Her heart lurched, but she was fine.
She had made it to the first branch easily enough, but she knew she wouldn't be able to get to the end of the branch to grab a leaf without the branch snapping. She kept climbing.
When she eventually reached high enough up, she grabbed a big leaf. It was easily big enough to wrap around the Suicune's slim, sleek body.
After climbing down, she instantly got to work bandaging up Suicune's wounds. She would make the short trek over to the river to get water to clean Suicune's wounds, and continue. By the time she was done, Suicune had woken and and fallen back asleep from all the struggling it had done when she cleaned its wounds.
She leaned back against the white trunk of the tree, and Hyria exited from the golden vines that worked as a curtain for the entrance to the tree.
"Millie, I would like you to meet-" Hyria paused upon seeing Suicune. She looked up to Millie, and someone else pushed Hyria out of the way and came out.
"Hyria, babe, what are you doing?" a woman asked. "Why are you just standing in front of the entrance?"
The woman's amethyst eyes followed Hyria's gaze and eventually landed on Millie, who was sitting next to Suicune.
"You found Suicune?" the woman asked. "Huh." Her lips pursed, forming a thin line.
"Oh, yeah," Millie replied. "Is it your Suicune?" Suicune's eyes fluttered back open, and it pushed itself up onto its paws.
Two other Pokémon walked through the golden vines, both of them large and sort of dog-shaped. Entei and Raikou both crouched down upon seeing Millie close to Suicune.
Millie recoiled from their threatening glares. Raikou whipped his tail from side to side, sending sparks flying. To Millie's surprise, Suicune moved in front of her.
The two other legendary beasts visibly calmed down, and they both ran off. Suicune turned back to Millie, blinking whilst nodding in what was seemingly a way to thank her, before Suicune, too, joined Entei and Raikou in wherever it was they were going.
---
"So you're not at all surprised?" Rosa asked Millie. The girl shrugged in response.
"Oh I'm very much in shock, and that's the only reason why I'm not going crazy," Millie said. "Once the fact that I'm one of you actually kicks in, probably when I join my friends again, it'll certainly take some time to get used to."
"You realise you will probably need training, right?" Hyria said. "Since it's taken so long for you to even try to test out your new powers, they still aren't fully developed. You've probably only transformed a couple times before as a small child until your body naturally adapted to blend in with its surroundings. Usually, Carulem children are transforming as easily as they breath by their teen years, but you've never even attempted yet."
"Yeah, but it'll be a useful skill to have, especially for, like, stealth missions, where I have to transform to look like something else," Millie responded. "I could really help out my team better if I can master this."
"Well, if you want to have it down by the time your team finds out again, you're gonna have to go through some pretty intense training," Rosa said. She crossed her arms. "Like, non-stop. Breaks only when you're in a nearly life-threatening state...?"
"Sounds good."
Rosa and Hyria both looked at each other.
"I like this one's spirit," Hyria said. "A lot more eager than all the people on my team combined. She has great potential if she could just be trained by someone with great skill." The dark-skinned woman nudged Rosa.
"I just don't know if I have the time," Rosa sighed.
"Rose, your most time-consuming trouble was just taken care of by her. The least you could do is train her."
Rosa tried to keep up her stubborn demeanor, but eventually gave in and sighed. "Fine."
Millie cheered. "Thank you! I promise, you won't regret it."
Rosa sighed and a small smile spread across her face. "I better not," she said jokingly.
---
With a grunt, Millie blocked an attack from Rosa. She shoved the Carulem leader away, panting. Rosa transformed back and looked at Millie.
"I don't see how this is helping me with being able to transform," Millie said.
"Transforming requires stamina and muscle. Without those, you won't be able to hold your form," Rosa replied. "Low stamina levels will cause you to transform back to your default form. In your case, you'd revert back to human."
"And muscle?" Millie asked.
"Being generally fit is good for a lot of things. Strength will help you just in general, and if you have strength throughout your whole body, that's even better," Rosa explained.
"Can we take a break from you charging me and trying to trample me to a pancake?" Millie asked.
"Go get another drink, and then come back. You're gonna be doing sit-ups to help improve your core strength."
Millie trudged off and Rosa watched her. It wasn't until Hyria spoke that Rosa looked away.
"She's impressive," she said. Rosa nodded in agreement. "I can tell that she's already well succeeded your expectations. She managed to push you off of her, and you were not holding back."
"Yes, she is," Rosa said. She sighed contentedly.
"Y'know, if she were to challenge you, she'd probably be able to take your role as Leader," Hyria told Rosa.
"I would take her as an apprentice of mine if she were staying, but she will be going back to her friends soon," Rosa sighed. Hyria gave Rosa a strange look, but Rosa ignored it. "I would like to try something, if you wouldn't mind."
"What do you mean?" Hyria asked.
"I feel as if the only way she's really going to get her transformation powers to kick in is if she were to really be challenged. No holding back."
"I'm liking where this is going."
---
"Alright Rosa, I'm ready for those sit-ups," Millie called to her instructor. Rosa jumped off from the fencing of the fighting arena and walked over.
"Yes, about that, I've changed my mind," Rosa said. "I want you to attack me. And don't hold back. I won't be holding back either."
"Okay...?" Millie seemed as if she were about to question it, but she shut her mouth before she did.
Standing at two opposite ends of the arena, Millie and Rosa faced each other. Rosa transformed into a giant, star-patterned bear, while Millie watched in amazement while only having brute force to fight of q giant bear.
Eventually, Rosa started running at Millie, but Millie was quicker. She hopped over the fence fight at the last second, leaving Rosa to crash right into it, and then she slipped back under. Rosa roared and ran after Millie.
On a complete whim, Millie turned around, skidding to a halt while the Rosa bear ran towards her at full speed. She put up her hands, arms outstretched, and waited for Rosa to run straight into her.
When she did feel Rosa crash into her, she slid backwards a bit, but pushed against Rosa. Eventually, she knocked the woman back. Rosa slid to halt.
There was a slight shimmer of pride in the bear's eyes, but Millie had no time to question it before she was once again attacked by Rosa. Rosa brought up a paw, and swung it down, aiming for Millie's head, but Millie took the opportunity and ran forwards, slamming two antlers into the bear's chest.
That was the moment she had realised that something was not quite right. She wasn't a human wrestling an alien bear. She was an alien deer wrestling an alien bear.
With all her remaining strength, Millie used the antlers on top of her head to pick up Rosa and toss her to the other side of the arena. The bear rolled a couple times before transforming back.
Millie collapsed from exhaustion, but she opened her eyes when she heard Rosa calling to her.
"Millie, my dear, that was amazing!" Rosa said, hopping over the fence from the opposite direction that Millie had tossed her. Millie looked over to see Hyria dusting herself off.
"What?" Millie asked.
"Hyria took my place for the fight. We Carulems can turn into specific people if we have some of their DNA to replicate," Rosa explained. "Hyria here is quite the fighter. Much better than me."
"So, did I pass?" Millie asked groggily. Rosa and Hyria both laughed.
"Yes. You'll still have a bit of a way to go until it just comes naturally to you, but you should be able to train by yourself, now that you at least know how to train," Rosa replied.
---
"So, you never explained to me why a female beta is so strange," Millie said. She, Rosa, and Hyria had been taking a break and were sitting outside of the village cave.
"Well, there are three rankings, okay?" Rosa began. "Alpha, beta, omega. Alphas are better fighters, and both male and females, along with male betas, can get male and female omegas, and female betas, pregnant."
"Yeah. And omegas tend to be more shy, but motherly. The only times they really fight is if they feel their baby is in danger," Hyria explained.
"Meanwhile, you have betas, such as myself, who are sort of a mix of both," Rosa said. "Out of all of the Carulems in our village, we have about six betas, seven of we're counting you. You and I are the only female betas out of all seven, which means us two are the only two betas who can get pregnant, but still put up a fight even without our children being in danger. We'll still get motherly instincts, too, when we have children."
"And that makes people like you and Rosa targets for any alphas or male betas who have not yet claimed someone," Hyria said.
"Okay, so what's this claiming thing?" Millie asked.
The two women glanced at each other.
"Claiming is probably the best way for us female betas to avoid someone jumping us. Basically, an alpha or male beta bites your neck until they draw blood, and then their scent will sort of stick to you, and tell everyone else that you're already claimed by someone," Rosa explained. "If you have someone you really, really like, then I'd suggest having them claim you. But, be warned, because it's practically irreversible."
"That's new," Hyria said, looking up at the sky. Millie followed her gaze, spotting a star that seemed bigger than the rest, and changed between powder blue and light pink.
The star grew closer and Millie realised what it was. The Castle of Lions had exited a wormhole and was flying towards them.
"That's the Castle of Lions! It's my team!" Millie exclaimed.
"Shall we get your lion from the workshop?" Hyria asked.
"Oh no need," Millie said. The castle landed and everyone came running out to greet her, with the exception of Shiro.
"Guys, this is Rosa and Hyria," Millie said, introducing everyone. "Rosa, Hyria, meet Team Voltron."
Rosa walked forwards. "It is an honor to meet you all. Millie has told us lots about you in the short amount of time she was here."
"Please, the honor is all ours," Allura said. Millie looked at Allura and saw that tears seemed to be welling up in her eyes. "You two are Carulems, correct?"
"Yes. We have made this planet our home and have been thriving for generations," Hyria said.
"If you wouldn't mind, we would like to join the Voltron coalition. Every Carulem in the village has been raised on the legends of our previous home planet, Altea, the same as yours. As the great grand daughter of Commander Blythe, it would mean the world to me if you would accept our offer to help the Altean royal line once more," Rosa said.
"And it would be an honor to have Carulems by our side again," Allura told Rosa.
With that, Rosa smiled and turned to Millie. "I hope we will see each other again soon, niece," she said.
"Wait, what? Niece?" Millie asked.
Rosa nodded. "Do you not feel the familiar bond between us? We are connected by blood."
When she thought about it, Millie realised that she had felt something whenever she was around Rosa. Something that felt as if she knew that she was somehow related to Rosa all along. Some unknown bond.
"Well, in that case, I am glad to have you as an aunt," Millie said.
A loud roar from behind them told Millie that her lion had exited the cave, and when she turned around the White Lion was right there, but the three legendary beasts were also standing next to it.
One by one, starting with Entei, and then Raikou, the three Pokémon jumped away. Suicune, however, trotted over to Millie and rubbed its head against her leg before it too jumped away.
"So you had some adventures," Keith said.
"Yeah, and I'll tell you all about them later," Millie replied.
Okay so I sort of forgot about this book and my other book and also wattpad in general but like,,, I'm gonna try and start working on these again. Can't guarantee anything though, since I've sort of fallen out of the Voltron Fandom, but I'll try!