Pidge and I were riding in the Green and White Lions on a solo mission. I let go of the controls and let White fly on her own for a little while.
I looked over the screen to my right and saw Pidge sitting her in seat in deep thought. I frowned, knowing that she was thibking of Matt and her father, Sam.
"What are you thinking about, Pidge?" I asked, startling the girl. She looked up at the screen, as is she forgot I was there.
She turned back to her controls, "Nothing, just thinking about Matt."
I smiled kindly, attempting to comfort her at least a little bit, "You'll find him, Katie. I know you will."
She smiled, taking off her glasses and put on her helmet.
"Pidge, Zurine, I don't like the idea of you two going alone. You sure you don't need backup?" Shiro asked.
"I'm sure." Pidge answered, "The intel that shopkeeper gave me leads me to believe they could pull out if their location at any time."
"This may be our inly chance, so we need to act fast." I added, "Also, all of yoy have enough to do on Olkarion."
"You're right. Good luck." Shiro wished us.
"Hey, while you're out, will you look for some more fluuto beans?" Hunk asked.
"No, no, no! No more beans for Hunk!" Lance shouted.
I laughed at the two boys and cut off the transmission. I resumed control and followed thr Green Lion to a small planet.
We hid our lions and grabbed a couple of cloaks as to not give away our identities as palidans.
Pidge pulled up a map to our next location. It led us to the rundown portion of the city where most of the shady go to play and shop.
Pidge led us to an old abandoned factory shack. I looked over at Pidge and said, "Are you ready to see the show?"
She smirked and nodded before we went in. When we opened the door, the first thing we saw was the old useless machines and shelves.
The place was covered in dust and everything was a mess. Yep! This was the right place.
We down to the back of the building, the sound of distant clanking keeping us alert and wary.
We walked around and found ourselves in the way back of the building, and that's when we saw him.
He was shaggy alien with four arms, a skinny body and dressed in rags and wraps on the battom half of his body.
He looked at us with a bored look, "Shop's closed." He said.
"We're just looking for directions to a show." Pidge said.
"We've heard it's explosive." I finished. The alien looked at us with an amusing expression.
"So you're the ones looking for the nano-thermite titanium-boron? Very expensive. Difficult to procure, I assure you." He said.
Pidge smirked, "Keep it."
The alien grew a little frustrated, "You're backing out of our agreement?"
"Altering it, in your favor." Pidge pulled up the small video of her brother escaping from a Galra cell, "We'll still give you the money, but, in return, you tell me who is in this video and where to find them."
The alien took only one look, "Why would I know those people?"
"Because they used nano-thermite titanium-boron, and you're the only one in this section of the galaxy that seems to be selling it." Pidge said.
"I've had some good luck seeling things if value." The alien said.
"Plus, from the way you answered after you saw the video, saying 'why would I know those people' indicates that you do know who these people are, but just don't associate with them. Just give us the information, and we'll leave without trouble." I added.
"Well, you know what I think? I think the Galra would pay a lot to know how you got your hands on that security footage." The alien grabbed swords from under his desk.
Pidge and I sighed.
"Really? This is how we're doing it? All I want we want is the information." Pidge said.
The alien junped onto his desk to attack, but Pidge acted fast and kicked the desk back. He fell onto the ground as Pidge shot her bayard at the alien man.
He quickly stood back up, but fell right back down when I snuck up behind him and jabbed my elbow into his neck.
Pidge crouched down in front of him.
"Had to do it the hard way." She said. After the man regained consciousness, he 'kindly' agreed to give us the information without charge.
"Thanks for the intel." Pidge chuckled as we headed back to our lions.
As we flew, Pidge uploaded the information into the Green Lion's database, then shared it with me so I could help with directions.
"Te-osh." Pidge said, matching the face to the people in the video, "Looks like I got a positive ID."
"That's great, Pidge. Now calculating last known whereabouts." I said, typing on my keyboard.
The last known locations of Te-Osh was a large moon called Kraydah.
"Looks like we're heading to Kraydah's moon, Pidge." I said.
"Then let's hurry and get going." She said.
We flew faster to the moon, but as we got closer, White could sense danger.
"Do you sense that, White?" I asked.
"Yes, Zurine. The Galra are nearby. Please proceed with caution."
"Of course. Pidge, White and I sense the Galra, brace yourself for any signs of attack."
"Got it."
When we got close enough to the moon, Pidge and I noticed small explosions on the moon's surface. We both pulled a closer image of the surface and saw multiple Galra fighters attacking a small base.
"Oh, no! It's a Galra attack!" Pidge shouted as she shot towards the moon.
I changed into my moon form and followed with White changing as well.
Pidge flew down and fired at the fighters, while I landed my lion and projected a protective barrier around the base.
Our lions growled as they fought and protected the base.
When all the fighters were gone, our lions lowered their heads and let us out to meet the people of the base.
When we came out, a man came running towards us.
He was dressed in freedom fighter garb, with blue skin and white hair covered with a hat.
He ran up to us with a big smile, "Greetings. I am Lieutenant Ozar. You two must be one of the palidans and the Child of Sun and Moon." He said happily.
"Yes, I'm Pidge, and this is Zurine. What's going on?" She asked.
"We defeated a wave of Galra forces." Ozar explained, "More are coming, so we're evacuating. But now you're here, we might stand a chance. Will the other liins be here soon?"
I shook my head, "No, it's just the two of us. The others are busy on Olkarion."
"We're looking for Te-osh. Is she here?" Pidge asked.
Ozar turned and pointed to the large ship on top of the building, "Te-osh is inside the base loading up the last of the medical supplies. We were just about to leave. Your timing was most fortunate."
Pidge's face lit up with hope, "Thanks, we'll help you load up, I just need to speak with her first."
"Thank you Palidan Pidge and Princess Zurine." Ozar thanked.
We were running towards the base whrn all of a sudden, it blew up.
We gasped and backed away, I covered us in my moon form from the falling debris.
We looked up towards the sky and saw multiple Galra fighters rushing through the clouds and firing at the ship with the medical supplies.
The ship took off, we followed the ship in our lions, Pidge desperate to get to Te-osh.
As we dodged the lasers from one fighter, it missed us and hit the evacuating ship.
The Green Lion jumped and grabbed the attacking fighter, throwing it away.
"Is everyone okay?" Pidge asked the freedom fighters below.
"For now, thanks to you. But our ship is damaged. We are stranded and cannot help Te-ish." Ozar said, "Please Palidans. You must help her."
"What about you?" Pidge asked.
"We know what is means to fight the Galra. The supplies on that ship are more important than our own lives."
I admired their bravery, but not me not Pidge would let these people go down like this.
"Everyone aboard, now!" We said. The people below boarded the ship and we helped them fly.
After that, Pidge and I caught up with Te-osh's ship.
"Te-osh, we are Palidans of Voltron. We're here to help." Pidge said.
A different voice came through, it sounded very weak.
"Please." Te-osh said with a grain of pain, "I've been hit."
Pidge fired her vine laser and finished off the last fighter. When that was done, we landed on top of the ship and rushed out to help Te-osh.
The doors to the bridge opened and the sounds of someone groaning in pain met our ears.
We ran to the pilot chair and saw Te-osh sitting in pain, holding her abdomen.
"Oh, no. Are you okay?" Pidge asked.
"Pidge, quickly, slowly move her to the ground. I can try to heal her." I said. Pidge nodded and did as I said, moving Te-osh to the floor as gently as possible.
I knelt down and moved her hand from her abdomen and quickly wrapping a soft glow around my hands.
Pidge took off Te-osh's mask so she could breathe easier.
"The ship..." Te-osh said, "Those upplies are needed immediately."
"Not without you." Pidgr pulled up an x-ray and showed me the damage. It was worse than I thought.
Te-osh was coughing, and now I could see why. Many of her ribs were either fractured or broken, and a couple of them punctured her lung.
"This is worse than I thought, Pidge" I said in a worried tone.
She looked at me with fear and worry, "Don't worry, Te-osh, Zurine can heal you. You're gonna be okay."
Te-osh looked up at Pidge and for a moment, she saw her older brother.
"Matt?" She said.
"He's my brother. I'm trying to find him." Pidge answered, her eyes widening.
Te-osh smiled, "You look so much like him. It's the eyes." She coughed again, weakly holding up a small transponder to Pidge, "Here. Every rebel officer has one of these transponders. It's how we find each other in the field."
I gasped silently, feeling her heartrate fall down dangerously fast.
"He may not have his anymore, but this is his code. Now, please... please help get these supplies to my people." She begged. Then she looked up at me and smiled.
"Thank you, but I was far too injured to save." She placed her hand on top of mine, "Save your strength, and please help get these supplies to my people."
I was silent for a moment, I gently grabbed her hand and nodded, stopping my healing process.
With one last smile, Te-osh closed her eyes, and faded away. Pidge teared up and clutched the transponder tightly in her hand.
I stayed with Te-osh while Pidge dragged the ship through space. When she called for me, I sighed, saying a slient prayer and leaving a crystal bouquet of flowers for her.
It was the least I could do since I wasn't able to save her.
I walked into White and flew off with Pidge to where the transponder code led us.
I pulled up a link to the Green Lion and saw Pidge staring at the transponder while it searched for Matt.
Her legs were pulled up against her chest.
"Don't worry, Pidge. We'll find him." I said with hope and sincerity.
She turned towards me and smiled, "I know we will." She stayed silent for a moment before talking again.
"You know, back on Earth, Matt and I would sneak onto the roof of our house and send secret messages to our father." She said with a slight smile, "Matt would use a two-step encryption and a series of additions and subtractions to decode the messages."
I chuckled, "That sounds just like Matt and you. When I stayed with you, we would always go to the roof and look at the stars."
"Hey, that's when you told me that you're from space. I never would've imagined that I would actually find you here, but I always believed that I would see you again." Pidge said.
"And now we're going to find your father and brother in space."
"Yeah. Speaking of which, what was your family like? I know about your father, but what about your mom?"
I hummed in thought, thinking of my mother 10,000 years ago.
"My parents cared more about our people than themselves, and the one they cared the most about was me. My father would take me on all his trips across the galaxy, there I would learn all types of languages and cultures. He was also very generous, going all over our planet and helping out people with troubles."
Pidge smiled, "He sounds amazing. And what about your Mom?"
"My mother was also very caring about me and our people. She would on more than one occasion go into town and mingle with the people. She taught me cooking, how to rule with a kind heart and even how to take care of the injured and sick."
"So she was a kind and helpful person? She sounds nice." Pidge replied.
I smiled and nodded. We flew in silence, the only noise was the electronic beeping from the Green Lion.
We soon found ourselves in a field of broken rocks and debris.
Suddenly, our lions picked up on Matt's signal on a broken planet up ahead.
We rushed to the planet and sae that there absolutely nothing on its surface. All there was were broken pieces of rock and other debris.
"This place... Its completely destroyed." Pidge said.
"You never know, Pidge. Maybe Matt landed here for a short stop to rest." I tried to reassure her.
Just then, over the horizon, we saw a tall structure standing firm. We landed and rushed towards it, getting a better look.
The outer walls had aliens of different races holding it up as a symbol of strength. The thunder rumbled and crashes in the background as my nerves and fear kicked in.
In front of the structure was a large stone with carvings on it. I recognized the language right away and read what was on it.
When I finished reading, my heart dropped to my feet. I stopped breathing for a tick and reread the words over and over while Pidge tried to translate it.
"Zurine, are you okay? You look like you've seen-" Pidge was intterupted by the translations.
"In honor of the 127,098 brave warriors that stood against tyranny. They quest for freedom is won thriugh sacrifice."
Pidge's eyes widened as the translation was complete. The fear in her eyes was almost too much for me to bear. I followed close behind her as Pidge ran through the structure.
"No! Please, no!" She cried, begging that it wasn't true.
When we stopped running, our hearts stopped again. In front of us was a large field. A field of graves for the fallen. There were thousands of them.
"Oh, no." Pidge gasped as she slod down the cliff.
She tried as she slid down. I slid down as well and helped her, dragging her along as we ran down past the graves and hoping that he wasn't gone.
Pidge looked down at the transponder and saw thay the signal was right on top of us.
We stopped right there and saw where the signal originated.
It stopped.......
...At a grave.
Pidge and I were speechless. We fell to our knees, tears already pricking at the edges of my eyes while Pidge stared at the gravestone in disbelief.
"Matthew Holt. 0-0-1-0-0-5..."
I read the stone's words and began to cry. Pidge fell forward and said that she was sorry.
"I'm so sorry." She sobbed, "I was too late."
I looked over at her and wrapped in my arms, hugging her tightly as she and I cried.
Just then, she and I noticed something wrong.
"Pidge, somethings off. Look at the dates." I said. She sniffled and looked at the date and saw what was wrong.
"Wait, what? Matt's birthday is wrong." She said, gasping in realization, "A quantum frequency. It's... It's a message!"
"That must mean that Matt's still alive somewhere!" I exclaimed.
We both stood up in surprise, "The code!" Pidge said, "But what... what's the second encryption item? I have the book!"
She pulled her portable computer and began typing, "Now, factor in Dad and Matt's additions and subtraction..."
The previous numbers moved and around and formed something new.
They were coordinates.
We quickly raced back to our lions and began flying as fast as we could to the set coordinates.
As we flew, Pidge and picked up enemies on our radar.
"This isn't good. Two Galra cruisers and even more nearby." Pidge said.
"Engage cloaking." I said. I focused on my necklace and created a cloak to keep my lion invisible while Pidge did the same.
We flew right past the Galra undetected. Still cloaked, we made it to the shattered remains of what was a planet.
We landed, but wondered where Matt could be.
"There doesn't seem to be anyonr or anything here." Pidge said, "Can you feel anything, Zurine?"
"Not really, but there is something here." I replied.
We flew into a nearby cave and exited out lions.
When we reached the bottom of the cave, I immediately noticed something off. The rocks around us were neither sinking towards the ground, nor flying away.
"It's a dead end." Pidge said.
"I don't think so, Pidge. There's something strange about this area." I said.
I bent down and picked up a rock, Pidge watching my actions over my shoulder. I dropped and rock and watched it float down and stay down.
"Gravity?" Pidge asked. I nodded.
"There must be something that's generating it. You'd better do a small scan for anything out of the ordinary." I said.
Pidge did as she was told and scanned the ground. In just a tick, Pidge located a secret entrance in the ground.
We quickly opened it and went inside.
Using our jetpacks to float down, we cautiously entered and landed.
As we looked around, we noticed that this was not just a secret room.
"This must be some kind of spy facility." Pidge wondered aloud, staring at the holographic screen in front of us.
Suddenly, in the reflection of the screen, we saw someone rush towards us with a rod of some kind.
We quickly dodged and rolled out of the way. We ran as the stranger continued to follow and attack. Pidge and I ran up the wall and flipped over the stranger, grabbing our bayards and transforming them into our weapons.
Pidge shot her electro lasso at the strange who blocked it with his rod, wrapping the lasso around it and pulling her down.
Pidge slammed onto the floor and groaned on impact. I flew down right beside her and and helped her up, rolling her out of the way as the stranger came up and hit the empty space.
I rolled the other way and saw the stranger begin to attack.
"What have you done with my brother?" Pidge demanded an answer. Then, the strangest thing happened, the stranger paused before getting hit in the face with Pidge's bayard.
His mask was knocked off as he fell to his knees. He looked up a little and I gasped in surprise at who it was.
I didn't have time to stop Pidge as she reeled her arm back to hit him. The stranger turned towards Pidge, making her stop dead in her tracks.
The two stared at each other for a moment before gasping.
"Pidge?"
"Matt?"
Matt stood up, his face filled with disbelief and shock as Pidge put away her bayard.
The two wasted no time embracing each other in a tight hug.
"Oh, my gosh! Ever since the Kerberos Mission, they said you were dead, but I knew in my heart that you weren't!" Pidge said, crying tears of joy.
"I can't believe you found me. It doesn't seem possible." Matt said, breaking the hug and staring at his younger sister with tears and a smile.
"The thought of you and Dad kept me going, inspired me to do the impossible." Pidge said.
"Okay, but seriously, how'd you get this far into space?"
"It's a long story. Is there any chance you've heard of Voltron and the Child of Sun and Moon?" Pidge asked.
"Of course I've heard of them."
Pidge looked off to the side and smirked, "Well, I'm one if the palidans. And that girl over there is the white palidan and Child of Sun and Moon."
Matt looked towards me and back to Pidge in disbelief.
"No! No! Seriously? You're a palidan of Voltron? That's so awesome!" Matt said as he picked Pidge up and spun her around, the two laughing the whole time.
I smiled at their reunion, but a suddenly chill broke it up.
"What a touching reunion." Acold voice said from the shadows. I stood up and readied my bayard, transforming it into dual swords.
We faced towards the voice and saw a tall dark man wearing a cloak and a sinister smile.
"Who are you?" Pidge asked.
"Who I am is not important." The stranger said, "I am here to collect a bounty on your brother Matt. But a Palidan of Voltron, the Green anf White Lions, not to mention the Child of Sun and Moon? What a day."
"Stand back, Matt."
"Stand back, Pidge."
The siblings looked at each other and smirked.
"Let's show this guys what the Holts are made of." Pidge said.
"Don't forget the power of the sun and moon." I said.
"Looks to me like you're made of meat, juet like everyone else!" He grabbed whips made of red electricity and charged at us.
He swung his whips and we dodged them, but Pidge got caught in one of them, screaming as she was electrocuted.
"Stay away from my sister!" Matt shouted. I ran beside him and swing on of my swords as he swung with his rod.
I jumped up and flipped over the bounty hunter and landed behind him while Matt was thrown back.
"You three are worth more to me alive, but I'll take something iver nothing."
I changed into my sun form and shot fire at the bounty hunter's back. He screamed in pain as hus back was burnt, giving Pidge the right opening to attack.
She shot her bayard at the other side of the wall, the hunter dodged but was kicked in the face as Pidge swung to the other side.
"You'll have to do better than that!" A red whip wrapped around one of the beams above and he pulled himself up towards Pidge.
I turned to Matt, who was still ok the ground, "Matt, are you alright?" I asked. He sighed and nodded.
Just as he stood up, Pidge was falling to the ground. Matt looked around ad Pidge saved herself with her jetpack.
"Pidge, the panel!" He shouted.
Pidge knew exactly what he meant. She lured the red whip over ti a broken panel, where it wrapped around the wiring and stuck.
"Matt, Zurine, now!" She yelled. Matt and I ran up to the hunter. He swung his whip and got it caught on a metal pillar.
I changed my bayard to a copy of Pidge's weapon while Matt stuck his staff into the ground, pulled it back and let it go, smacking the electrified whip.
I touched my weapin to the ship, giving it an extra electrical charge. The hunter screamed in pain, slowly losing consciousness before getting punched in the face by the siblings.
The three of us stood beside each other, breathing heavily and smiling.
"Good thinking, exposing that electric whip to the asteroid's magnetic field." Pidge said to her brother.
"You're the one who recognized he was clearly using direct current and thought about completing the circuit." Matt said.
The two highfived and and laughed in victory, then turned to me.
"And Zurine, good job on adding that extra electrical charge to knock him out." Pidge said.
I smiled and took off my helmet.
"I have the coolest littke sister in the whole galaxy. Now all we have to do is find Dad." Matt said. He turned towards Pidge and saw her take off her helmet and put back on her glasses.
"You kept the glasses?" He asked.
"Of course I did." Pidge answered.
Matt turned back to me and noticed the ribbon in my hair, "Hold on a minute, that ribbon..."
I gasped, playing with the green ribbon between my fingers. I smiled and chuckled.
"I forgot, you've never seen me in my real form, huh?" I said. He looked at me, even more confused than before.
I changed into my human form, Aiko, and watched Matt step back in surprise.
"Nice to see you alive and well, Matthew Holt." I said, changing back into normal form.
"So... You're not a human?" He asked, shakily pointing his finger at me.
Pidge smiled and chuckled, walkong over to stand by my side.
"Yeah, she's actually an Arisian. And not just any Arisian, the princess of them all. Matt, meet Aiko, better known as Princess Zurine of Arisa. White Palidan and heart of Voltron, and the Child of Sun and Moon." Pidge introduced me.
Matt stayed silent for a tick before he sighed and slouched over.
"Looks like you were right, Pidge. Aiko really was from space." He said.
We all laughed, rushing back to our lions and taking off back to Olkarion.
I cut off any communication to the Green Lion, thinking it would be best to let them have their privacy.
I had never seen Pidge so happy, and I didn't want to ruin it, so I let them be.
All of a sudden, the strange whispers returned. They grew louder and louder but I still couldn't understand them.
I pressed my hands against my ears and temples, trying to drown out the noise, but it didn't work.
"Princess!!!!!! Help us!!!!!"
That was the last thing I heard before everything turned black.