Voltron Next Generation

Voltron

Shiro's eye twinkled, "I'm glad to hear that."

"I'm glad to say it."

Then Shiro, King of the Castle of Lions and retired Black Paladin, pulled me into a hug. He patted my shoulder and parted saying, "I'm glad you're apart of this team Genesis." I had to stop myself from tearing up.

"Me too."

Breakfast that morning was as fun as every meal in the castle was, and I looked forward to training for the day, Allura had outlined it out for us.

We started the day out with physical training, combat, physical strength, etc. It was really refreshing for all of us to be fighting together with Kairos, our team leader. It was also cool to see the sleek futuristic longbow that Kairos's Bayard was. This training section also taught me that me, Py, and Jake were pretty far behind Kairos and Kaeza in the fighting skill department.

The second exercise of the day was a neurological connection exercise. Coran walked around the circle of us putting the nodes on our heads. As he went down the line a screen appeared in front of each person, I assume to depict what they were thinking about. In front of Kaeza was a group what looked like her friends and family from her planet, and in front of Py was what I assumed was the same thing, as the group looked like it was made up of several different species. In front of me, I wasn't surprised to see Levi, smiling with his stupid goofy grin. In front of Jake were lines of running code that, whatever it was, made him smile. In front of Kairos was a depiction of his family, all the old paladins.

I turned my screen into Red as Coran narrated the instructions. "Focus on your lion, it is imperative that you empty your mind of any distractions and you focus solely on the connection you have with your lion."

Once all the lions were formed Coran said "Now, feel it in your gut and let your lion guide you. Form Voltron."

I took a deep breath. Clear my head... focus on Red... my lion... my connection...

As The lions convened in the center of the circle, we watched in amazement as the pieces began turning and spinning and reforming, and soon, stood in holograph form before us, was Voltron.

Jake was the first one to cheer, and the rest of us joined in. The adults took this as a sign and that now was a perfect time to get in our lions and try to form Voltron.

The good news is that I didn't scream this time going down the chute. As I pulled Red out of her hangar and flew her down to where Black, Blue, and Yellow were already waiting, I felt my heart beating in my chest, we were really about to do this, we were really about to form Voltron.

I could hear Kairos's grin as he said "On my count take off, make sure that you feel the bond with your lion and through that connection, feel the bond of the team. I believe in you guys, let's do this! Form Voltron!"

With elation I took off, flying in perfect controlled formation. I felt the thrum of Red underneath me and tapped into her. Then I felt the thrum in the air and tapped into the team. I could feel the sky open up and I could feel my lion begin to transform. I couldn't contain the feeling of joint energy and I spun around in joy as Red finished her transformation, and then I slotted her into place as the right arm of Voltron.

With the formation complete we stood, as a collective, as Voltron!

My team went wild and I did too, we were all ecstatic. Soon the old Paladins came over the coms to congratulate us.

"Remember this feeling Paladins, it's something you'll have to tap into whenever we need to form Voltron," Allura said, but she was smiling all the same.

Now that we had successfully formed the legendary hero, it was time to make our world debut, specifically on Olkarion. Allura and Coran went over an airshow we are going to perform and little speeches for all of us.

Kaeza's favorite part was, of course, the huge 'party' of sorts we would be throwing at the castle. A bit of a way to celebrate with the epicenter of the new world.

Despite all the party planning to be had, we spent the coming days training what seemed like endlessly. I also knew that the closer we got to Olkarion, the closer I got to sending Levi off on his own.

I made sure to set him up with a communicator so he could call me and stuff, and he continued to reassure me that he'll be alright on his own. Everday seemed easier though, every day I was grateful to have a team to train with, and a brother to coddle, and knowing that there really isn't a reason to be scared anymore, or worrisome.

We had mastered our airshow, rehearsed the speeches down to a T, and the hilarious part was getting a talk from the adults about proper customs and decorum for when we met the delegates from some of the different planets.

Eventually, we found ourselves on Olkarion, meeting with Pidge's brother Matt, Hunk's wife Shay, and a few others who welcomed us onto the planet.

Keith introduced me to some of the old members of the Blade of Marmora and as they caught up I watched my brother meet Matt Holt, utterly starstruck and his mouth gaping open. Matt laughed good-naturedly and pulled him into a hug and they began a long conversation with Pidge and Jake.

The Blade members excused themselves, and I pulled Keith along with me to Lance and Kaeza who were having an animated conversation with Kairos and some alien I didn't recognize.

Kaeza was telling one of her stories and I couldn't help but smile at the shock on the alien's face as she recounted the tale of how she killed a leviathan and earned the tattoo across her back.

Keith whispered to his husband what sounded like "Lance look, Shiro's talking to Slav, we better see where this goes." In a bemused tone and Keith, Lance, Kairos, and the alien excused themselves and they flitted over to a frustrated looked Shiro and an alien who I assumed was Slav.

"So," Kaeza turned to me "can I ask you something?"

"Sure" I smiled.

"I don't mean to like make you uncomfortable or anything, I'm just kinda worried..."

"Kaeza it's fine, go ahead."

"I just want to know how you're doing, I mean, between the prophecy, and Levi going to stay with Matt, and, well I overheard about your mother. I just want to make sure you're ok... This may be out of place, but I haven't really got any sisters back home, just a slew of brothers, and well, you kinda feel like the sister I never had. I wanna make sure you're ok."

"Wow Kaeza... I don't think anyone's ever said something that nice to me before. I feel like you're family as well, and with all this stuff, I don't know, I think what's getting me through is having you guys to lean on a hold onto."

"I didn't mean to bring up such a heavy conversation right before we broadcast to the universe and then have a party, but uh,"

"No, dude you're fine. It means a lot to know you care."

Kaeza gave me a smile as we mingled into the crowd.