I flew through space, following the rouge pod Shiro was using with Lotor inside. This Shiro was a fake and I would not let him get away with what he did to me and my friends.
"Shiro, I know you're not the real Shiro, but you have some of his flame inside you. Stop this!" I shouted, but no reply can through.
All of a sudden, I felt a massive amount of energy erupt in front of us. In an instant, a purple wormhole appeared in front of Shiro's pod.
"Guys, are you seeing this?" I said.
"Yeah, but how did they open a wormhole?" Lance asked.
"Haggar. It has to be Haggar." Allura growled out angrily, "She must've gained the ability. But how?"
"No idea." I said, "She's always been full of mysteries."
"We can't worry about that now." Keith said, "We have to make sure we get Shiro back."
"But Shiro's not Shiro anymore." Hunk said.
"I know, but something is wrong with him. The Galra or Lotor have to be behind it." Keith said, "You all know he would never give up on us. We can't give up on him."
I turned around and saw Voltron fly towards the wormhole as Shiro's ship began to approach. But they were flying at a lower speed.
"Guys, one of my thrusters is down. Can you compensate?" Keith asked.
"Those beans torched our power core. I've never seen anything like it." Pidge informed us.
"We've got maybe 30 seconds of over-clocked burn time." Hunk said.
"Hit it!" Keith shouted, and the thrusters kicked in at full blast. I heard the sonic blasts from the increased speed as they raced even faster than before.
"We're halfway through our burn." Hunk said, "25%..."
Shiro's pod went through the wormhole...
"15%!"
The generals ships entered the wormhole...
"8%!"
"We're not going to make it!" Lance yelled.
"Too heavy!" Pidge shouted.
The wormhole was closing and Voltron wouldn't make it, so they had no choice.
"Everyone, disband Voltron!" I shouted.
"What?" Everyone said.
"No, Phoenix has a point." Keith said, "The energy from disconnecting might create enough thrust to propel me through the wormhole."
"You'll be the only one on the other side." Allura said.
"No, he won't. I'll be right there with him." I said.
"Phoenix are you sure-"
"There's no time to be sure, just do it!" I shouted.
A second later, Voltron disbanded and Keith was sent propelling to my side in the Black Lion.we both flew straight into the wormhole right before it closed and exited out the other side.
But when we saw out opponents, we were more than shocked.
Several battle cruisers and Galra ships were placed right where we were set to exit the wormhole. And they were prepared.
Upon them seeing us, they immediately started shooting at us. I looked over on my screens and saw that Konrad's power had declined slightly due to damage on his wing.
"All right, gotta play this smart. Follow my lead, Phoenix." Keith said.
"I'm right behind ya." I replied and we flew off into battle. We dodged all shots and flew closer to the three enemy ships Lotor's former generals were flying.
Just as we got closer, my screens pulled up a visual of one of the three ships flying towards us. I could tell from the flame that the pilot was Acxa.
"Keith, it's Acxa!" I shouted. We pulled back and took on evasive maneuvers. We flew down and led Acxa along towards one of the cruisers as she continued to fire at us.
Once we had passed the cruiser, Keith quickly pulled up, flipped over Acxa's ship and landed on it before firing his laser at point blank range.
"Good work, Keith." I said, typing a few keys on my dashboard. Shiro's flame was coming from the closest battle cruiser near us.
"Shiro went into that one." I said flying over to the ship I mentioned and Keith followed closely behind.
We couldn't just land our Lions and grab Shiro, so we did the next best thing and slammed into the side of the cruiser. Smoke and dust covered our sight quickly before it cleared up and showed us our targets.
Shiro, Lotor, Zethrid and Ezor were standing by one of the exits shocked by our entrance.
"Keith, you go and stall the enemy, I'll take care of Shiro and the others." I said, recalling Agnimitra to my pendant.
"You can't, it's too dangerous!" He shouted as I floated in space.
"I'll be fine. I'll keep on touch so you know that I'm okay."
Keith was silent for a moment before ships started firing at us again.
"All right. Just be careful, okay? I dont want to see you hurt again."
I smiled and nodded as he flew off to fight the other Galra ships. My helmet stayed tight on my head as I flew into the ship, grabbing onto something solid to avoid being shot back out into space.
Shiro, Lotor and the two generals quickly closed the other door to avoid the same fate.
I kept holding on, trying to activate my jetpack, when all of a sudden, Shiro opened the door and came running back out into the ship hangar, running towards the Altean pod he stole earlier.
"Shiro!" I shouted, but he didn't listen, instead he hopped inside the pod and began take off. I had to time this right. I waited for the pod to come closer to me.
The pod flew fast towards the opening, where I was holding on tight. When he got close enough, I let go and quickly grabbed onto pod as it flew at high speeds.
"Child, this will not end well." Agnimitra said.
"I know. My dream is becoming a reality. But I'm prepared to face and change it. I will not die." I replied.
"Shiro, come on. I know you're there!" I heard Keith shout, "I dont know what's wrong, but I know we can fix this. Let me and Phoenix help you."
But Shiro didn't reply. He didn't listen.
"Keith, this is not the same Shiro that we know. We need to be careful." I said.
"Right." Keith said, "Phoenix... do think we can save Shiro?"
I didn't know how to answer. It wasn't an easy question to answer. How can I tell Keith that this Shiro was just a copy? A mimic of the real Shiro that is probably no more? And also the fact that I knew and never told anybody.
All I could say as an answer was....
"I... I dont know, Keith...."
I let go of the ship and let myself fly through space before summoning Agnimitra and taking her controls.
"But I know that we'll do whatever we can to bring him back."
We flew through space for what felt like hours before finally reaching a large asteroid. It seemed to be abandoned, but I sensed multiple flames inside it.
We flew closer and spotted the pod, along with a trail of footsteps leading somewhere on the asteroid.
We landed and cautiously followed the footsteps. Keith went in first, but stayed close to me, as if he was terrified more for me than himself.
His flame was flickering wildly, more wild than I had ever seen it before with fear and uneasiness.
"Keith? Are you okay?" I asked.
He shook his head, "Not really. Shiro's gone rouge, our team is split apart and...."
"And what?" I asked. Suddenly, I felt something warm wrap around my hand. I looked down and saw Keith's wrapped around mine in a tight grasp.
"And I have a bad feeling that something might happen to you."
I felt my cheeks heat up furiously. I knew that he was right. Something bad was going to happen to me, but I would do whatever I needed to make sure I survived.
I wouldn't leave like this.
I gripped Keith's hand back, making him turn around and face me with wide eyes. I smiled slightly to assure him and calm his nerves a little.
"I can't promise that nothing bad will happen to me, but I will promise that no matter what happens, I won't leave you or any of our friends." I said. Keith continued to stare at me for a little while longer, before he smiled and nodded.
We continued to walk along the footsteps left by Shiro, Keith still holding on to my hand. He kept a tight grip on me, as if I would disappear if he let me go.
We walked into a large cavern, down the long and twisting tunnels decorated with stalagmites and scalactites. Soon, the cavern got dark and darker until it was pitch black.
But even so, we kept on walking. The strange flames I felt earlier grew stronger as we continued through the dark.
About 20 minutes of walking in the darkness, the cavern finally began to light up. We followed the light to a large carved room with Galra technology, a ramp leading to a large elevator door. The footsteps lead straight to the door.
We went up to the elevator door and Keith opened it. We stepped inside and the elevator immediately closed and started descending.
My nerves were a wreck. The dark lights. The strange Galra surroundings. And the darkness in Shiro's eyes when he strangled me at the Castle.
It was coming.
Imminent death was coming, and I was terrified.
"Phoenix." Keith said snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"I want you to stay close to me, okay?" I was surprised by his request, but I nodded and gathered all of my strength to face the foe that was once our friend.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened, revealing a frightening and confusing sight.
It was a large room, the Galra purple lights keeping it aglow in the darkness of underground. There was a large machine connected to the ceiling and a ramp that lead down to the lower floor.
We walked slowly and cautiously down the ramp and onto the lower floor. All around us were large canisters filled with unknown items.
As we continued walking, I felt the strange flames become stronger, but there was another flame following us. One I could never forget.
There were several other containers in front of us, containing the flames I felt. We walked to the strange containers and were horrified by the sight of what they were holding.
It was tall. A head covered in black hair and closed eyes as if it was sleeping.
This was Shiro, cloned perfectly.
I couldn't help but shake in fear after seeing a clone of Shiro standing over us. And Keith was just as horrified as I was.
The other containers began to light up, scaring us even more as they revealed to have Shiro clones as well.
We stood in shock for a minute, staring at the clones, when we were shocked back into reality by a voice that drove shivers up our spines.
"Hello, Keith, Phoenix." We quickly turned around and saw Shiro standing behind us, his eyes narrow and glowing a terrifying purple color and his lips sealed tight in a fine line.
His flame was darker than before, now changed from its black and purple, to black and eerie yellow.
I kept a hand at my side, ready to summon my bayard if need be. Shiro started walking towards us, his footsteps becoming a painful to hear.
"Shiro, it's gonna be okay." Keith said, his voice shaking in fear and worry.
"Yes, I know." Shiro replied.
"We just have to get back to the Castle."
"We... are not going anywhere!!" Shiro shouted, his arm glowing purple as he charged at us. We activated our shields and blocked his attack.
Shiro didn't take time to rest, he punched again, forcing up back against the clone containers and breaking our shields. We rolled away before he could hit us again, instead, he hit the control panel for the clones leaving them in the darkness.
We summoned our bayards and readied for the continued battle. Keith held out his sword blocking Shiro's approach. Shiro swung his arm around and tried to hit me with the back of his fist, but I blocked it with my twin daggers.
Suddenly, Shiro punched Keith hard which threw Keith off the edge and down towards one of the lower levels.
"Keith!" I shouted, letting my guard down for only a second, butbthat was enough time for Shiro to hit me too, knocking me off the edge.
I activated my jetpack and descended with Keith already landed.
"Pheonix, watch out!" Keith shouted. I looked up and saw Shiro jumping down to strike. We got up quickly and ran to dodge, rolling down the steps and landing on our feet.
Keith reached behind his back and pulled out his blade from the Blades of Marmora. His blade shone brightly and grew longer, activating as Shiro stepped from the cloud of dust and stared at us with malice and anger.
He lifted his hand and created a transparent blade to fight with.
"Keith, you can't hold back in this fight." I said, "He may look like Shiro, but this is a fake.
"What do you mean by that? He's Shiro!"
"No he's not." I said back. Shiro charged and attacked again. He swung his sword at us, Keith's blade connecting with Shiro's and throwing him back.
I jumped behind Shiro with my twin daggers and tried to make a hit, but Shiro anticipated my attack and backhand slapped me hard enough for me to see stars.
I landed hard on my head and my vision was becoming spotty, but I couldn't lay there while Keith was fighting.
I shook off my dizziness and forced myself to my feet. I quickly ran off the edge and saw Keith and Shiro fighting. Shiro landed an uppercut punch under Keith's chin, causing his helmet to come off and fly.
"Keith!" I shouted. I ran over to the fight, swinging my arms and trying to hit Shiro with my daggers. Shior swung his arm behind him and almost hit me before returning to fighting Keith.
Keith dodged the swings of Shiro's blade, be jumped in into the air and activated his jetpack to escape, but Shirp was too fast and grabbed onto Keith as he tried to fly away.
I ran off the ledge to follow, Keith and Shiro cut some of the hanging wires to swing down and lessen the pain of their fall.
Shiro swung down to the ground, tumbling from his unbalanced landing. Keith and I swung around and kicked out feet out, kicking down a now standing Shiro with full force.
We let go of the wires on impact, falling with Shiro farther down. We acted fast, landing on the large crates and then to the stable ground, swinging out blades to land a hit.
All of our blades collided again, us pushing Shuro against the railing behind him. But something was different, Keith's flame gained a new sense of ferocity and anger. Something similar to a fighting Galra. I glanced over at Keith and for a moment, I thought I saw his eyes change color to match his mother's eyes.
I turned back to Shiro, his proud smile giving off an evil glint to it.
"That's the Keith I remember." He said, almost sounding proud at the fact that Keith was about to end him.
Keith hesitated for a moment, pulling back only a little bit, but that was enough for Shiro to swing his blade and make us lose our grip on our weapons.
Keith's blade and my bayard daggers were flung through the air, landing close by. We turned and made a run for our weapons while Shiro continued swinging his blade.
We reached down, grabbed our weapons and turned around to continue the fight. Our blades met again, sending Keith and I into a large metal structure. We grunted by the force and by the pain. When we opened our eyes, Shiro was standing right there with his blade in the air ready to take to us down.
Shiro swung his sword in an attempt to decapitate us, but we ducked quickly, and the blade cut the structure we hit. The metal creaked as it fell, separating us from Shiro as it fell of him.
Keith and I panted heavily as we stood covered in bruises and scratches.
"Shiro, I know you're in there." Leith said trying to get through to Shiro, "You made a promise once. You told me you'd never give up on me."
Shior stood up, his arm crackling with electricity colored purple, staring at us menacingly.
"And I should have abandoned you just like your parents did." Shiro yelled, "They saw that you were broken. Worthless. I should have seen it, too."
"We're not leaving here without you." Keith said.
Shiro looked down and sighed, then looked back up at us with a deathly creepy smile on his face.
"Actually, none of us are leaving." He said. All of a sudden, the purple lights in the room began to turned red, the machine in the center of the facility charging up with power.
Along with the red lights, Shiro's arm began to change color, adopting the same red hue as the rest of the facility. He groaned in pain, screaming as his arm turned white, overloaded with too much energy.
He gasped as he fell to the floor in pain.
"Shiro!" Keith shouted. I watched as his arm began to morph, changing shape and power level. The crackles of electricity from the arm shook me to my core and the pool of light gathering around his hand created a laser that shot through the floor.
It led up to the ceiling, Keith and I rolling away to dodge the deadly blast. The laser cut through the entire facility, some of it falling apart and the part we stood on hanging by a thread.
We leaned against the metal railing, watching as the facility fall to pieces, then we looked at Shiro and my heart stopped.
Shiro was hunched over on his feet, his arm crackling violently and changed to have light traveling up his arm like veins. He stared at us with the intent to kill, no matter the consequence.
We turned around and ran off the ledge, just as another blast was coming to us. We rolled onto the next platform, then stood up on our feet and turned around and looked up.
Shiro was standing on the ledge above us, his arm aiming straight for us before firing.
Using our jetpacks, we jumped away and dodged it, running and running as fast as we could on the platform to get away.
But luck was not on our side. Shiro saw our move of escape and cut the part of the asteroid that was holding the platform in place.
We slid down the platform, landing on a small hook shape of the broken platform then running and jumping away before we were crushed by the falling containers.
We fell fast towards the last remaining platform in the hidden facility, reaching out our hands we grabbed on to the platform and hoisted ourselves up.
I sat on my hands and knees, catching my breath while Keith lay on his back doing the same.
I looked up and saw Keith's blade stuck in the metal platform. Keith rolled over on his hands and elbows, crawling towards his blade, before exhaustion and pain took over and he fell to floor.
Just then, Shiro landed on the platform in front of Keith and his blade. He looked down at the exhaustion boy in front of him and activated his blade.
He lifted it into the air and yelled as he prepared to strike. I was terrified for Keith. I was terrified for Shiro. And I was terrified for what was about to happen.
Everything went in slow motion after that.
The blade was being forced down.
My body wasn't listening to any rational commands like 'Stay put' or 'dont move'.
Pure adrenaline was running through my body as I forced myself to my feet and began to move.
I reached out for Keith as he slowly opened his eyes.
I landed in front of Keith as Shiro's blade was coming close.
....
My arms were stretched out wide in a protective manner....
Then.....
I ..... smiled.....
"PPHHHHOOOOOEEEEENNNIIXXX!!!!!"
"I'm......... sorry...."