"This is freaky," Lance said, the six of us standing in a line, facing the cliffs that matched the line.

"Wait, I'm getting a reading." Hunk said, brushing past Pidge. I took off, watching them pick their way through the rocks while I circled overhead. Hunk led the way to a cave in the rocks, leading us inside.

"Woah," I murmured, looking at the carvings. Lance wandered over to a wall, brushing some dirt off one of the carvings. It lit up with blue light, and the floor underneath everyone cracked, then broke, dumping everyone. I shut my eyes, tucking my wings in tight, trying to make sure I landed on my feet.

I landed with a splash, my legs absorbing the shock of landing. I had to dive into the water in order to avoid Hunk and Pidge, so I still ended up all wet.

"Is everyone okay?" Shiro asked, standing up.

"I'm fine, but I'm soaking wet!" I said, outraged. It takes forever to get my feathers to dry, and my fur wasn't much better. I flicked an ear, water spraying Lance. "Do you have any idea how long it takes to get both my fur and my feathers dried off?"

"Nope, sorry," Lance said, flicking water at me in return. He looked up and gasped. "Woah, they really are everywhere."

I followed his line of sight and saw a giant lion inside what looked like a force field. "Woah, I knew the rumors, but I didn't realize that the lion might actually be on earth."

"Is this the Voltron?" Pidge wondered, looking at the lion too.

"It must be," Shiro replied.

"It isn't," I said confidently. "It's just one piece of it. It must be what that energy you felt came from." We walked closer, and Lance started zigzagging from side to side.

"Does anyone get the feeling it's staring at them?"

"Uh, no," Shiro said, watching Lance. He looked back up at the lion, tilting his head.

"Sorry," I said. I flew up, hovering in front of the force field. "I wonder if we could get through this."

Keith wandered up to the field, placing his hand on it. "I wonder what it's made of?"

"Probably pure energy, harness to make a force field," I replied without thinking.

"Maybe we just have to knock," Lance said, knocking on the field. It glowed brightly, abruptly shutting down.

"How'd you do that?" I asked. A vision seemed to overtake the humans, and they gaped at the lion.

"It really is just one part of Voltron," Shiro said in amazement.

The lion bent down, opening its mouth. "Amazing, anyone else getting the feeling this is Lance's fault?" I asked, realizing the lion had bent down right in front of Lance. I landed behind the group, folding my wings than walking forwards into the lion.

Once inside the lion, I realized Lance was sitting at the controls, his hands on the steering mechanisms. "Should I be worried that Lance is at the controls?"

"Probably," Pidge admitted.

"Oh come on," Lance protested. "The pretty lady shouldn't worry her pretty head."

I rolled my eyes at that, reaching over the back of the chair to whack him in the head. "Don't you dare." The screens in front of him activated, bathing the cockpit in blue light. "Hey, this is all in altean."

"All in what?" Hunk asked, looking at me askance.

"Altean. Alteans are a dead race. Learning to read and speak altean was an elective course in my primary school."

"Primary school?"

"Like elementary school," Shiro explained.

"You remember something at least." I volunteered. I spotted a handle on the wall and grabbed it. "I'll just hold on to this, and hope I don't hit my head. I have a feeling that this is harder than the cell walls."

"How would you kno-" Keith started, pausing as there was a whole bunch of movement. "You are the worst pilot ever!" He shouted, holding on to Lance's chair and Shiro the best he could.

I tried reaching out to touch his shoulder, then my head snapped around, making a sickening 'crack' as it hit the wall. I tilted over, my vision going dark.

A foul smell roused me, getting me to clamp my hand over my mouth. Not the worst thing I'd ever smelled, but pretty close. I heard a chorus of "Eww, Lance," and I grinned. The boy had actually farted.

"But, seriously, there's a castle up ahead."

I heard a series of 'woah' noises, and the lion stabilized as it landed heavily.

"Keep your guard up." Shiro cautioned.

"Something wrong?" Pidge wondered.

"My crew was captured by aliens once, I'm not going to let it happen again." He replied grimly.

"Orchid Gold, are you okay?" Keith asked, someone finally noticed me lying on the floor.

"I think I may have gotten a concussion, mostly since I can't actually remember very much."

Keith looked worried, helping me stand up. I staggered a little, ending up leaning against Shiro. He stroked my feathers a couple of times, then propped me up. "You good to walk?"

"Maybe, just don't be surprised if I start bumping into things." I blinked a couple of times. "Where are we again?" I didn't actually hear the reply, my brain was too busy telling me that I was going to be tossing my last meal up.

"I think she's gonna puke," Pidge noted, grabbing my arm to take me to some bushes nearby. Thankfully, she turned away, patting my back awkwardly.

After I finished retching, nothing left in my stomach, I straightened up. "Okay, I think I'm good." I held up a finger, bending over to place my hands on my knees. "Just give me a sec."

"Woah," Keith said, turning away from me to look at the ginormous castle the lion had landed in front of. It was primarily eggshell white and had altean blue and charcoal black accents.

"Woah is right," I agreed. I winced, feeling a sharp pain in my wings. "Ow," I muttered.

"What's wrong?" Pidge asked, tilting their head.

"I've got a lot of broken shafts, they need to come out, but until they do, they're a little painful," I replied, running my fingers over one of my wings. I found a clipped feather, pulling it out with little effort. "I'm just lucky they didn't really clip my flight feathers. I think I may have pulled the clipped ones out a few times."

The lion abruptly stood up, roaring loudly. I clamped my hands over my sensitive ears, the fur warm under my fingers. I felt my forehead after the lion finished, finding it just as hot.

"I guess we're supposed to go in?" Pidge said, leading the way into the massive castle. I followed her, pausing next to Shiro.

"Is something wrong?" I asked him. He was hesitating to go in.

"I don't like bringing them into danger, they're just kids."

"Well, so am I." I pointed out. "They had a choice, and they decided to come. They probably knew at least some of the risks. If they hadn't saved us, we'd probably still be with the garrison."

"And who knows what they might've done to you," Shiro said thoughtfully.

"Me, what about you?" I asked. "Although, I suppose you were a famous pilot, and I'm just a teenage alien."

"You two coming?" Lance asked, almost in the door.

"Yeah, be right over," I called. "If you don't mind, I'd like it if you'd help me get all these clipped feathers and broken shafts out." I addressed the last comment to Shiro, and he nodded.

"I'd be honored." He replied, striding towards the open door.

I smiled gently, then followed him, nearly running to keep up with his longer legs. "Thanks, I wasn't sure I could trust Lance to do it, and I highly doubt Hunk would get past the fact that pulling out each feather is going to cause me pain. He might like to help with afterward, but probably not with the actual feather pulling."

The foyer was large, but not so large that the lion could fit in. "Identity scan," a voice announced. Blue rings came out of the floor, scanning each person individually.

"These steps are human-sized," Pidge noted. "Not lion-sized.

"That's good," I joked. "I don't think I can carry Hunk or Shiro. Keith, maybe, but not Hunk."

Lance smirked at me, and I rolled my eyes. I still hadn't forgotten the fact that he almost completely forgot about me, leaving Pidge to cut the straps binding me.

"I guess we go this way," Pidge said, seeing the lights flickering on, leading the way down a hallway.

We arrived in a really big room with a series of circles. I crossed the room, my talons clicking as they hit the floor. My feet were more predatory bird type, and they were more designed for perching, then walking.

"What's this?" Pidge wondered, putting her hand on a pedestal. Suddenly the circle I was standing on began to rise up, and I nearly fell off. I opened my wings, flapping them to lower myself to the floor.

The pod opened, allowing someone to fall out, and right into Lance's arms. They were pretty, with long white hair and dark skin. Lance immediately realized he had just caught a female, and a smile spread itself over his face. "Well hello, beautiful." He said.

"Who are you, Where am I?" She asked.

Lance looked shocked for a second before regaining his composure. "I'm Lance, and you're right here in my arms." I rolled my eyes and punched him, but he ignored me.

The woman pushed herself off of Lance, looking at his ears. "Your ears," She said, disgust evident on her face.

"Yeah?"

"They're hideous, what's wrong with them."

"Nothing's wrong with them, they heard what you said about them!" Lance almost squaked.

I issued a small 'caw' of laughter, and the female's attention switched to me. "Why is a galra on my ship? How did you get here?"

I stepped back, my ears flicking backward defensively. My wings spread a little, but I tried to keep them folded tightly. "I'm not full galra."

"We got here in a giant blue lion! That's all we know!" Lance cried,

Shiro stepped in front of me protectively. "She's with me. She was a prisoner just like I was."

"How do you have the blue lion? What happened to its paladin?"

I couldn't blame her, after all, if she had that reaction to me, she probably knew about the horrors the galra had caused. I didn't really look that galra, mostly my golden wings, but the fur and ears, plus the mainly orchid and violet coloring I had, did add to the galra thing.

She crossed to the pedestal Pidge had been inspecting, and opened screens, beginning to type on them. I was so focused on her, that I didn't even realize someone else had appeared until the girl looked up from the screens with horror. "Coran, we've been asleep for ten thousand years!"

"Are you sure princess?" Came the reply. I turned around to see a man with bright orange hair and the same color mustache.

"If you tell us who you are, maybe we could help you," Shiro said.

"I am princess Allura of the planet Altea."

"I remember you from history," I exclaimed, remembering her now. "Hate to break it to you, but your entire civilization was wiped out thousands of years ago."

"Zarkon," Allura hissed, a fierce expression on her face.

Shiro gasped slightly, his face ashen. "Zarkon?"

"He was a vile creature and enemy to all free people."

"Hate to be the repeated bearer of bad omens, but Zarkon is still alive," I said, looking at Shiro.

"I remember now, I was his prisoner," Shiro said gravely.

"He's still alive? Impossible!"

"He's been using the druids," I explained. "They keep him alive with dark magic."

"He's searching for a super weapon called Voltron," Shiro said.

"He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him, and that's exactly why we must find it before he does." Allura began searching around on her pedestal while the rest of us stood around awkwardly.