We were on our own now. No extra backup to help us out of we were in trouble. But we knew the risks for this mission.
A few days had passed since we parted ways with the Atlas, and still no signs of a Robeast.
"Okay, that's the third star system we checked in the last 11 days, and we still haven't found a single clue about any Robeasts." Hunk said as he yawned.
"Actually, that was the 11th star system in the last three days." Pidge corrected.
"Was it really? Oh, my gosh. Okay, see, I'm so worn out, I can't even... you know."
"Uh, count?" Lance finished.
"No. Think."
I sighed, feeling slightly exhausted myself.
"We have to keep going, everyone. Who knows what might happen to innocent people if we don't find the Robeasts." I said.
"Zurine is correct." Allura agreed, "I know this is not ideal, but the intel we recieved from the Galra cruiser in Lahn's fleet identified one of those Robeasts within this quadrant. We must find it."
"Unfortunately, we just don't know how current that information is." Keith said.
"Also, this celestial quadrant is 230,000 light-years in diameter." Pidge said.
"I can't even process what that means." Hunk groaned.
"Okay, picture five fleas searching for another flea on a dog that's the size of Earth." Pidge tried to explain clearer.
"Ugh, all this talk aboit fleas is making me itchy. Are you guys feeling itchy?"
"Pidge, why can't you and Hunk just make a Robeast tracker thingy, you know? Do some math and science stuff. Maybe out some components together, and bam, it's done." Lance asked.
No one gave an answer.
"Perhaps we should set our heading for the Altean colony." Allura suggested, knowing the answer she would receive.
"We talked about this." Keith said, "To get to the colony, we would have to travel through the Quantum Abyss."
"Plus, Kolivan said the colony no longer exists." Pidge added.
"Allura, I understand your want to find the colony, but you must see that going to the colony is not an option." I said.
"But there will be clues there, something to go off of."
"Traveling through that abyss was one of the most harrowing experiences of my life." Keith said, "A single misstep coukd turn a six-month journey into a ten-year journey. The creatures, the environment, everything in there wants you dead."
I heard Kosmo whine, "Except you."
"I'm tired of hearing what we can't do and what we don't know."
"Allura, we just want to make the best decisions--"
"The Alteans were my people," Allura cut Lance off, "and the last of them are being exploited as soldiers in someone else's war. You don't understand."
"I understand what it feels like to see someone I care about hurt so much."
"And so do I, Allura." I added.
Allura sighed, "I'm sorry, Lance, Zurine."
After a moment of silence, Hunk suggested, "Okay, maybe we head to Olkarion. We're just a few galaxies away.,they night have some information on any unusual sightings."
"Hunk's right. Olkarion is a great spot to regroup and reevaluate our situation." Keith said.
"And it'll be awesome to see everyone again. I wonder what kind of technological advances they've made in the last few years. Oh, man! If they figured out a way to untangle the uncertainty principle, new precision calculations could open the doors to a flodd of innovations!"
I laughed at Pidge's excitement, "Well, the sooner ee get to Olkarion, the sooner you can tinker away with the Olkari, Pidge."
"Allura, what do you think?" Keith asked.
"Perhaps a trip to Olkarion is best." She said.
I smiled softly as we quickly headed through the galaxies and towards Olkarion.
However, when Pidge tried to get on contact with Olkarion, there was nothing but static coming from the other end.
"I'm guessing there's a delay due to our distance." Pidge guessed, "We'll probably receive their reply on the way."
"Paladins, if we want to get to Olkarion quickly, there's only one way to do it.".
We all knew what had to be done: form Voltron.
Our Lions roared as they formed their respective parts and connected to create Voltron.
"Engage wings!" Keith shouted. He and Lance thrust their bayards onto their places and created the stronger wings of Voltron.
The thrusters engaged and we flew faster towards Olkarion. All of a sudden, my heart skipped several beats, making me lose breath.
Something was wrong, and it wouldn't be good for anyone.
We stopped just a few moments later in Olkarion's galaxy.
"Welcome to Olkarion's galactic neighborhood." Lance joked, "Did we ever hear from them?"
"Actually, no, which is strange. I'll try and contact them again." Just as Pidge was about to contact the Olkari, both her and my screens flickered and out alarms beeped loudly in our ears.
The holographic map showed something large heading straight for us.
"Whoa!" Pidge exclaimed, "Something big us headed our way at an incredible speed!"
Once again, my heart skipped several beats, giving me an even worse feeling of danger than before. However, it didn't feel like the danger was close. It felt more like a terrible sense of dread and sorrow building up inside me.
"A Galra cruiser? Some kind of weapon?" Lance asked.
"Is it a Robeast?" Allura asked.
"Shield up! Zurine, can you give some extra power?" Keith asked.
"Of course." I said, changing into my moon form and supplying extra power to the shield.
We faced the direction from which the large object was coming and readied ourselves to attack. But when the asteroids parted away, the large dangerous object we thought was coming to hurt us, turned out to only be a very large creature.
"What the heck is that thing??" Lance asked surprised to see such a beast.
It's a Weblum!" Hunk exclaimed recognize,g thw creature, "Keith, look! We've veen inside of one of those!
"How could I forget?" Keith groaned from the memories.
The Weblum came closer, opening its large mouth which began to glow.
"Um, what is it doing?" Pidge asked..
"Actually, it's cresting scaultrite." Hunk clarified, "Pidge, you would love it. It's this amazing chemical process--"
"Science talk later! We're in its line of fire!" Lance shouted.
We pushed our thrusters forward and dodged its attack.
"Should we go on the offensive?" Lance asked.
"No, no, no. They may be dangerous, but they're essential for the universe. Think if them like giant soace bees." Hunk explained, "Keith and I learned about them from a video Coran made. There was some rule like, 'If you don't want to killed, stay away from it's gills'?"
"That wasn't the rhyme." Keith said, "It's "If your don't want to be dead, avoid its head."
"We don't have time to listen to you rhyme." Allura said. Hunk laughed at the fact that Allura just made a rhyme of her own.
I looked out at the Weblum and noticed that it's movement was off.
"Where is it going?" I asked.
Pidge quickly calculated its route, "According ot my calculations, it's heading towards.... Olkarion."
My eyes widened as my heart skipped beats once again. We didn't hesitate to rush towards Olkarion as fast as we could.
We separated into our own lions once we got close enough to Olkarion, but, as we approached the planet, the terrible sense of dread and sorrow told me that Olkarion was not the same.
We flew through the heavy clouds ans through the upper atmosphere. It was unusually grey, a color that never suited the lushcious Olkarion forests and cities.
I gasped as we made it past the clouds. Tears welled up in my eyes, the green ribbon in my hair turning so dark a shade that it almost looked ebony black.
The cities were in ruins.
The forests were barren.
There were no signs of life anywhere we could see.
The wind howled harshly as we exited our lions and stood on the ruined rubble of the Olkarion city.
The tears from my eyes that wouldn't stop falling, and the heavy weight in my chest remained.
Pidge looked down, a sense of pain and sadness filling her eyes.
"They were our allies, our friends." She said. Hunk put his hand on her shoulder in a way to comfort her. But I doubt that any of us could be comforted after seeing this.
I barely paid attention as Keith wrapped his arms around me from behind.
"Paladins," he said, "I know this is a difficult moment, but we need to get to work. That Weblum is headed here right now, so time is short. Our top priority is search and rescue. If there are survivors, we need to find them, and we need to find our what happened here."
"There is only one thing capable of this." Allura said, a vicious bite on her words.
"Well, let's confirm it." I broke away fron Keith's warm embrace and went with Allura and Pidge to search the forests.
While we walked through the broken and barren field of trees, I couldn't fell anything from it. Nothing but ashes and abandoned tree trunks stood here.
It was dead. Not just the plants, but the entire planet had no quintessence running through it.
"Zurine, are you okay?" Allura asked me. I shook my head and said nothing as we continued on further.
"I think our worst fears have been realized." Keith said.
"What do you see?" Hunk asked.
"The physical wreckage and destruction patterns are just like those on Earth."
"Our findings are the same." Allura said, "It appears the Quintessence was siphoned out of Olkarion as well."
"Lance and I took readings. We picked up trace elements of Psyferite. That's the same metak the creature on Earth was made from."
"Why did this Robeast attack Olkarion in of all places?" Allura asked.
"Maybe because it was a central part of the coalition." Lance said.
"Maybe. I just get the feeling there's something more to it."
If only Allura had known the things I did, but, it wasn't the right time to tell them everything I knew. Even I still needed more time to figure out how to destroy the Dark One.
We kept going on our search for survivors. Allura, Pidge and I went separate ways. As I walked through the destroyed forest, I suddenly heard something.
Laughing.
Children laughing.
I turned around and the scenery changed so quickly. No longer was I in a barren wasteland, but back in the beautiful forests of Olkarion.
There children were playing in front of me, not a care in the world as they ran around with their ball. I followed the children, unknown to me that my bidy was surrounded in a pale green glow and my ribbon was becoming more vibrant in color.
I followed the laughing children back to the city. Several adults were standing, walking and mingling with other Olkari.
It was so peaceful.
That is, until it happened.
I heard gasps and saw the Olkari pointing towrads the sky. I followed their gaze and saw a large unknown object hurtling towards the planet in a ball of fire.
My chest burned in pain and my heart dropped into my stomach when I felt a familiar darkness come closer.
"Zurine!" I heard someone shout. I turned around and saw Pidge and Allura running towards me.
"Zurine, what are you doing here?" Allura asked.
"I saw something." I replied.
"Did you see the planet before all this happened?" Pidge asked me. I didn't question anything she said when she explained how she was able to connect to the planet.
After all, I could feel her connect to the planet.
We looked back out at the city, Pidge and I seeing the tragedy that befell Olkarion.
We shouted in surprise when the object smashed into the ground, booming and blowing away everything in a harsh gust of wind.
When the dust cleared, we opened our eyes and gasped at the sight before us. People were shouting in shock, and in front of everyone else was a familiar face.
"Ryner." Pidge and I said.
"You can see Ryner?" Allura asked, "What is she doing?"
From the cloud of dust came a large metal warrior, identical to the one we fought back on Earth.
"The Robeast! It's here!" Pidge shouted.
The Robeast wielded twin sickles in its hands, knelt down on one knee and struck the ground.
The sickles began sucking the quintessence out of Olkarion, taking out any Olkari that dared to stay in place.
"We need to get closer." Pidge said. I nodded and we ran to get a closer look, Allura following closely behind us.
The streams and cracks in the ground filled with a terrifying purple light were everywhere as we flew closer to the Robeast.
We jumped closer and closer to the Robeast with our jetpacks, and once we got close enough to see the beast clearly, I felt the full force of the dark quintessence from inside it.
"Ryner!" Pidge shouted. I turned to my right and saw what Pidge had seen.
Ryner was standing with a group of Olkari, "Get civilians to evacuation pods and launch them immediately!" She ordered, "Have all military personnel report to battle stations. Scramble the mechs for counterattack."
We jumped down from our spot and landed right in front of Ryner, who turned towards us and said, "Comr with me."
The vision of the battle scene ended and we were back in the present reality.
"Ryner." Pidge gasped, "It was like she was talking to us. Or it could've been to the soldiers. I don't know."
"That Robeast, it felt so sinister. As if it was filled with only anger and malice." I added.
"All the answers we're looking for could be here." Allura said, "We may be able to find out where this beast came from and where it's going next. There might be some clue here about the Alteans."
"If there is, we'll find it." Pidge said.
"We promise to tell you if there are any clues." I added.
Suddenly, Hunk's shaking voice came through our helmet comms, "Guys, we have a, uh-- We have a major problem here." He said.
"Hunk released some low-orbit trackers outside of Olkarion on the way in." Lance explained, "The Weblem just set them off. Wr have about ten minutes to evac!"
"Copy that. Everyone to their Lions!" Keith ordered.
"We can't leave yet." Allura said, "How long do you think you can hold it off?"
"Hold it off? It's a giant space worm!"
I hummed in thought, wondering how we can use the little time to find what we needed.
Then it hit me. My powers!
"Pidge..." I said grabbing her hands. She looked at me in confusion as I brought her to the ground.
"I understand that we are short on time, so we need to hurry. I'm going to use my powers to try and find the answers we need, however, I'll need you to help me connect to the planet on a deeper level. Are you ready?"
Pidge didn't hesitate to nod and agree to the plan. I held her hands tightly as the energy from both of us swirled inside me.
We opened our eyes again and saw the day of the battle. Several ships were flying away from Olkarion. The Robeast kneeling on the ground continually siphoning quintessence.
All of a sudden, we heard something whirring behind us. We turned around and saw the main central building powering up.
It fired an energy beam, but the Robeast came to attention, blocking and diverting the attack.
"Go, go, go!" We heard Ryner shout. We turned again to see her sending out pods and giving orders to the Olkari military.
"We need to preserve the information from the communications tower! Keep the beast at bay for as long as you can."
We faced the tall communications tower and knew what had to be done. We set off as quickly as we could to the tower hoping to find answers.
We flew up to the top and the scene from the attack appeared before us again.
"How did we not pick this up on our scanners?" One of the engineers asked.
"It just appeared!" The other one shouted.
"Just like on Earth." Pidge said.
"How could that be? Wait, bring uo our scanner logs. Those anomalies we detected earlier..."
The engineer did as she was told and brought up the logs. The male engineer gasped as he saw the signs of this attack coming.
"I can believe I didn't see it before. The anomalies are from the warlijg of space-time."
I gasped in shock. Space-time? It couldn't be...
"This creature cane through a wormhole." The engineer and I said.
Ryner's face appeared on a separate screen, "Transfer all data fron this facility to a safe location off planet. Then evacuate immediately!" She said.
"Understood. What we just discovered could save billions of lives."
The engineers worked as quickly as they could. My eyes widened when the Robeast turned towards the tower, just as they had initiated the transfer.
In a blast of light, and a shout from the Olkari, the tower was no more. The shock was too much for me and the pain in my chest became too great to hold in any more.
I collapsed with Pidge to the ground and Allura rushed to our sides.
"It was a wormhole. That's how they travel!" Pidge gasped holding her head in pain.
"Pidge, Allura, Zurine! I'm sorry, but you gotta get out of there immediately!" Hunk shouted.
"No, we need more time." I said.
Allura nodded and hugged me quickly, "I'm coming up to help." She said.
I sighed and connected to my lion, telling her to help in the fight. She purred softly and flew off planet to fight.
We stayed on the ground and concentrated. The scene changed before us again, this time, it was of the evacuation.
We jumped down to the evacuation pod and saw Ryner again, helping the people escape.
"Hurry. Everyone on board." She said, turning to another Olkari, "It came for something. Find out what." Suddenly, she gasped and ground shook with the boomimg footsteps of the Robeast.
The Olkari tried to attack and defend, and it pained both me and Pidge to watch this fight transpire, but there was nothing we could do but stand and watch as the destruction continued.
Just then, the Robeast flew up, taking with it the large cubes.
"It came for the cubes. Why?" Pidge asked. She turned towards Ryner, "Ryner can you hear me? Do you know why the beast wanted the cubes?"
"Please, Ryner, we need answers!" I desperately begged, but Ryner didn't seem to hear us as she continued to usher the others into the escape ships.
A little girl sobbed next to Ryner.
"I'm scared." She said through her tears, "I don't want to leave!"
Ryner knelt dowm to the girl's height and said, "You mustn't cling to tightly to the past. The Olkari have always been able to adapt and move forward. It is our greatest strength. And it will live on in you."
"But our home..."
"The old must give way to the new. It's the way of the universe. Now, please, go."
The two hugged each other and the girl ran off to the escape ship, tears being left behind in the wind.
Stared at Ryner as she watched the girl run off, thinking over what she had just said.
The doors closed and the ships took off, leaving behind Ryner and a few Olkari who chose to stay.
The area went back to normal, a warm tear running down my cheek.
"Pidge, Zurine! Are you two there?" Allura shouted, "We can't hold this thing off any longer. You need to get out of there.!"
In that moment, the Green Lion appeared in front of us. I looked over at Pidge, who stared back at me with determination filling her eyes.
"Let's let go of the past and move forward." I said with a smile. She nodded and ran into her lion.
I teleported to my white lion and sat down ready to escape. As soon as ee were spotted, we all cleared away from the weblum and watched as it fired.
In a flash of light, Olkarion was gone, reduced to space rubble.
"It's... Gone." Lance said in shock.
"I'm sorry, Pidge, Zurine." Allura said.
"I wish we could've done more." Keith said.
"Thanks, everyone."
"Yes, thank you, but there is nothing more to mourn." I said.
"Yeah, if you think about it, this isn't really the end of Olkarion." Hunk said, "Weblums eating dead planets is just the first step in a process that leads to the growth of new stars, planets and galaxies."
"The old gives way the new." Pidge mumbled. I smiled at the phrase. It was a wise phrase indeed.
"We need to contact the Atlas." Pidge said.
"Why?" Allura asked.
"The Olkari were not done teaching us." I said, "While we glimpsed into the past, Pidge and I saw that the Olkari found a way to track the Robeasts."
"Their information is going to save billions of lives."
And help us find a way to save the universe.