We went back to the bridge to go over our plan for battle.
"You'll need to retrieved the Red Lion from Sendak's ship." Allura said, all of us looking at the guide of the Sendak's ship on the screen.
"That's a pretty big ship." Keith said, "How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?"
"Well, it's not a matter of "we." It's a matter of you."" Pidge explained.
"Pidge is right." Hunk said, "Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and track it down."
"Yeah. You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were on the desert?" Lance asked.
"Yeah. You made fun of me for that." Keith retorted.
"And I'm proud of that, but turns out it's exactly like that mumbo-jumbo."
"Keith, remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental." Allura reminded, "You'll have to earn its respect."
Keith looked down unsure about the Red Lion choosing him. Shiro and I put our hands on his shoulders for reassurance.
"All right. Here's our plan of attack." Shiro explained the full attack.
Hunk and Lance took the Blue and Yellow Lions, creating a distraction while the rest of us went in the Green Lion from behind.
The Green Lion latched onto the bottom of the ship. We quickly got out and Pidge cut a hole into the ship. One by one all of us went inside the ship.
"Pidge, what's your ETA?" Lance asked, speaking through the comms installed into our helmets.
"We're in." Pidge answered. We looked around and saw several pillars emitting some kind of purple electrical lighting.
We snuck down the halls, being careful as to not get caught by any of the Galra on board. Suddenly, Shiro groaned and panted when he looked down the halls.
"Shiro, what's the matter?" I asked.
"I've been here before." He said, "After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos, they brought us here."
"So, that means your other crewmembers, they might still be held captive here." Pidge said, a little bit of hope in his voice, "We... We've got to rescue them."
"Pidge, we don't have time." Shiro said regretfully, "We have to get the Red Lion and get back to Arus."
"But we can't just leave prisoners here!" Pidge shouted.
"Look, no one understands that more than me, but, in war, we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving."
We turned around and began to walk away when Pidge yelled behind us.
"No!" We turned back around and faced the Green Paladin.
"Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones in the Kerberos Mission with you."
"Commander Holt is your father?" Shiro repeated in disbelief.
"Yes. I've been searching everywhere for him and my brother. And I'm not going to give up looking when I'm this close. I won't!"
Pidge turned around to go off on his own, but Shiro stopped him.
"I'm coming with you." Shiro stated.
"What?" Keith asked.
"I remember where the prisoners are held. Keith, you and Saoirse go find the Red Lion."
"By ourselves?"
"Minor change of plans. You'll be fine. Just remember, patience yields focus. So--"
The sounds of a door opening nearby made us no longer argue, but instead run in different directions.
I followed Keith down the halls until we reached two splitting paths going left and right.
"Great, now which way?" He panted out of breath. Heavy footsteps approached us from the left path. Keith pulled me by the wrist and running down the right path.
We went down several halls, each one looking almost the same. However, the end result was us finding ourselves at the same crossed halls as when we started.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Keith groaned annoyed.
I sighed, setting my hand on his shoulder.
"Remember what my brother said, Keith." I reminded him.
Keith breathed heavily, recalling the saying my brother always told him.
"Patience yields focus." He muttered, closing his eyes and focusing on finding the Red Lion. After a minute, his eyes snapped open.
"Gotcha." He said, turning around and running down the hall behind us. We ran and ran, stopping once in a while to let Galra guards pass us by.
After a while, we finally made it to a larger room in the battleship. A red light illuminated the room coming off from the Red Lion which floated in the air inside its force field.
We quickly ran up to the force field.
"Bingo." Keith said placing his hand on the force field, "Let's get out of here. Open up."
However, the force field didn't go down.
"It's me. Keith. Your buddy." Keith tried to coax the Red Lion out, but it seemed to be just as stubborn as him.
"It's me! Keith, your-- I am your paladin!"
"I don't think that's going to work, Keith." I said.
Just then, we were put on full alert when shots were fired at us. Upon instinct we activated our shields and blocked the shots.
"I'm bonding with you!" Keith shouted at the Lion, "Hey! Come on! We're connected!"
"You have to earn its trust, Keith!" I yelled, reaching down to my side and waiting for my bayard to appear. In only a second, the small lights on the side of my armor lit up, making my bayard appear in my hands and transform into my staff.
"You try to bond with Red, I'll watch your back." I said, not giving Keith any time to object as I ran towards the guards.
I swung my staff at the guard, he hitting my staff with his blaster. He lunged at me preparing to fire, but I blocked it with my shield. I pushed him away, but I didn't notice the second guard coming up to my left.
He was about to attack when a sword cut him straight through, sparks flying from the cut.
Keith stood tall with his shield in hand. He looked down at me and smirked.
"If you're watching my back then whose got your's?" He asked. I smiled back, but then went back to focus on our enemy.
The Galra shot at us, pushing us back towards the Red Lion. We landed on the floor, our shields and weapons disabling.
"Saoirse, activate your helmet and stay close to me." Keith said. I looked up at him confused, when I noticed the control panel hy his side.
I nodded, activating the lower part of my helmet and waiting for Keith to make his move.
He slammed his fist on the control panel, making the floor open wide and causing the guards to be sucked out into deep space.
Keith and I held on as tight as we could on the control panel, but our grips were becoming looser by the second. Keith looked up at the Red Lion, who still wouldn't let down its barrier.
Suddenly, I couldn't hold on any longer and my fingers slipped.
"Saoirse!" Keith shouted as I spun and tumbled in open space. Keith was right behind me as a piece of metal hit him in the head and caused him to be dragged out into open space.
Both of us breathed heavily from the shock, but what shocked us even more was when the Red Lion suddenly appeared, opening its mouth and grabbing both of us.
Keith and I stood up in the Lion, running to the pilot seat where Keith took his place.
Keith and I slid into the cockpit, several red lights and screens activating upon Keith's arrival.
"Good kitty. Let's roll." Keith said, the Red Lion following the order and speeding forward.
We flew towards the front of the ship, meeting the Blue and Green Lions.
"You guys made it!" Hunk exclaimed from on top of the ship.
"Kitty Rose has left the stage!" Pidge said.
"Let's get the heck out of here!" Lance said.
"I hope I stopped that cannon. I could barely make a dent in it." Hunk said following us back down to Arus.
We flew back down to the castle, a large blue dome covering it, which I assumed to be the particle barrier.
It went down for a moment, long enough for us to fly in to a large black door, where the Black Lion waited to be released.
All of us stayed in our Lions while Shiro got out of the Green Lion and stood in front of the door, waiting for it to open and reveal his given Lion.
Our Lions began to communicate with each other, as soft growls came from them w hu ioe their eyes began to glow bright yellow. Just then, the Voltron symbol on the door began to glow and it door lifted.
All of us were stunned in awe once the Black Lion was revealed. It was larger than all of the lions, and had a pair of red metal wings connected to its back.
It stood and roared, our lions following its lead and roaring as well. It was an exciting moment, but it was soon interrupted by bad news.
"Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere. We need Voltron now!" Allura shouted.
Shiro ran into his Lion, taking his place causing the lion to roar and all of us flying out of the castle and landing on the ground in front of it. Although, my Lion didn't touch the ground, it only floated above everyone.
I didn't have time to think about the reason why it didn't land, as the Galra cruiser lit up brightly before firing a powerful beam at the Castle.
All of us grunted at the sudden pressure from the attack.
"Man, those Galra guys repair things fast." Hunk said, almost amazed by the Ion cannon he was supposed to have destroyed completely repaired.
"The barrier gets weaker with every blast." Coran informed us, "Once that shield goes down, the castle will be defenseless."
"I can give you cover with the castle defenses for a while, but you have to form Voltron now or we'll all be destroyed!" Allura said.
"Jeez, no pressure." Hunk said sarcastically.
Another shot fired at the barrier, the blast shaking the area and damaging the shield.
"Listen up, Team Voltron!" Shiro shouted, "The only way to succeed is to give it all you've got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?"
I nodded, always ready to stand by my friends' sides.
"I'm nodding. Is everyone else nodding?" Hunk asked.
"Yes." We all said.
"Let's do this!" All of us sent our Lions forward, running, or flying, out of the protective barrier.
"Uh, how?" Lance wondered aloud.
"Good question. Does anyone have an idea of how to form Voltron?"
"I don't see a "combine into giant robot" button anywhere on my dashboard." Hunk said as we jumped off of the broken bridge and onto the planet surface.
The Galra continued firing at us as we continued to run and fly.
"This is insane!" Pidge shouted, "Can't they just cease fire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is that too much to ask?"
The Green Lion turned around and jumped up into the air, grabbing one of the smaller Galra ships in its mouth and throwing it into another ship, taking them both out at once.
I maneuvered my Lion in the air, dodging all attacks and smashing into a few ships. I was surprised. The Silver Lion didnt seem to have such strong armor, but it hit several ships and didn't take a single hint of damage.
"We've got to do something!" Keith said.
"Combine!" Hunk shouted slamming his Lion into the Red one.
"Hey!" Keith groaned from the impact standing his Lion back onto its feet.
"Okay, that didn't work."
"Quickly, Paladins! Our energy levels are getting low!" Allura groaned when another shot hit the barrier around the castle.
"Maybe if we fly in formation, we'll just combine." Shiro suggested, "Take off on my cue. One, two, three, Voltron!"
We all flew into the air, forming a v shape while I flew the Black Lion.
"Here we go!"
"Come on, come on!"
"Nothing's happening."
I looked around and saw a red light engulf us.
"Hey, wait, wait, wait! I feel something." Lance said.
"I do, too. I feel it." Hunk said, "It's like we're all being pulled in the same direction!"
I looked up and saw that the red light around us was coming from the Galra cruiser.
"Um, everyone, I think I know why. Look up." I said.
"What the cheese?" Lance groaned.
"Sendak's ship is sucking us in like a black hole!" Pidge exclaimed.
I tried to move my Lion, but it was no use.
A screen appeared to my right and showed me the castle completely unprotected.
"Oh, no." Shiro gasped, seeing the same thing I was.
"I don't care what you say, Shiro. I'm panicking now!" Hunk said in a panicked tone followed by a scream.
"It can't end here!" Pidge shouted.
"This is it!" Lance gave up.
"It's been an honor flying with you all." Keith said.
I refused to give up, and so did my brother.
"No!" He shouted, "We can do this. We have to believe in ourselves. We can't give up. We are the universe's only hope. Everyone is relying on us. We can't fail! We won't fail! If we work together, we'll win together!"
"Yeah!" We all shouted. All of a sudden, a different type of feeling came over us. Our Lions roared, glowing their respective colors as they changed shape.
The Black Lions legs folded into its body. The Red and Green Lions did the same, flying towards the Black Lions sides.
The Blue and Yellow Lions tucked in their legs, but left their heads visible like the other Lions.
However my Lion did something different. All of its legs separated from its body completely, leaving the head to float around on its own in front of the Black Lion's chest.
All the Lions connected, forming arms and legs, a head and torso, while my lion's parts fixed themselves onto the most vital parts of the appendages, almost like armor.
I looked around my cockpit and saw several panels shift, revealing more screens that measured the different parts of the the now combined Lions. My chair began to lower until I eventually sat on the floor.
My Lion purred in my arm, something in my mind telling me to stand up. I did as told, standing on my feet and walking up to my controls. I grabbed the handles, but they detached, lighting up brightly.
The light covered me, turning into ribbons of light and attaching themselves to my limbs.
"What is happening?" I asked myself looking down at my now glowing hands.
A shot fired at us, but our Lions roar brew it away. Our new mighty warrior landed on the Galra ship, the smoke slowly dissipating and revealing the symbol of hope for the universe.
Voltron!
"I can't believe it!"
"We formed Voltron!"
"I'm a leg!"
"How are we doing this?"
"I don't know, but let's get that cannon!"
I almost lost balance as Voltron moved, grabbing the cannon to our right and ripping it from the ship before throwing it down to the surface.
We knelt down, the Red Lion pucnhing through the ship and firing a powerful laser straight through, making mass damage.
We didnt stop there. We jumped over to the other end of the ship, the Green Lion firing after we punched into it.
We jumped away from the ship, spinning around and flying full speed through the Galra cruiser before landing on the ground as the cruiser exploded.
Our first battle was complete.
Voltron separated back into its separate Lions and the lights that were attached to me disappeared as my seat came back up from the floor.
We all flew back down to the castle and exited our Lions, taking off our helmets and waiting for Allura and Coran.
"You did it!" Allura said excitedly as she and Coran ran up to us.
"Thanks, pretty lady." Lance said.
"We did it." Shiro said.
"Heck yeah, we did." Keith said taking off his helmet.
"How did we do it?"
"I was just, like, screaming the whole time. Maybe thay did it." Hunk playfully suggested.
I smiled and looked over at Pidge, who put on his glasses with a disappointed expression.
I walked over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder, making his look up at me.
"We're not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father." I promised.
"Saoirse is right." Shiro said, "And wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you."
"We have won't the battle, but the war has only just begun." Allura said seriously, "I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions."
"Good thing you paladins know what you're doing, because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again." Coran said.
"Totally. Wait, what?" Hunk asked.
"We barely survived forming Voltron this one time." Lance said.
"Oh, and you only just had to fight one ship. Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It's not going to be east being the Defenders of the Universe."
Our eyes widened at our new title.
"Defenders of the Universe, huh? That's got a nice ring to it." Shiro said.
We all turned around and smiled up at the our Lions as the sun set in the distance.
This was the beginning of how our lives changed. It was how we became the Defenders of the Universe.
This was the Rise of Voltron.