Lance shifted the controls inside of Blue, murmuring, "It's alright, girl. We can land here. It's safe." With that, he pulled Blue down onto a large stretch of grass before shutting her down. Lance pulled himself up onto his feet and smiled as her doors automatically opened for him to exit out of. Climbing down, he glanced around a familiar field. It was muddy but he didn't mind at all: he was just happy to breathe in the air from Earth again. Upon hearing (and seeing) a large mechanical lion land, many of the Garrison teachers had rushed out to see what all the commotion was. A few students that had been hanging out in their dorms also came out, including one particular boy with rugged, brown hair who was wearing a large hoodie and ripped jeans. Something told Lance that he recognised his face but he couldn't quite connect it to a name.

Iverson stepped in front of the crowd and raised one arm to silence everyone who had been talking in hushed whispers. "State your name and-" Who was standing there must have taken a moment to kick in because Iverson seemed to lose his train of thought. "Lance McClain?" His mouth dropped open as he stared into one of the students that had gone missing under his leadership. The last thing he had heard, Lance and his family had all gone psychotic and made up a story about space lions or something. Just to make sure he wasn't dreaming, Iverson pinched himself but, surely enough, it was real.

"Yup, that's me." Lance grinned, pointing at himself with his thumbs. "I'm here to talk to someone and I think you'll do perfectly, Iverson," Silence washed over the field for a brief moment before Lance took it upon himself to speak up again. "Can we take this inside?"

"I-" Iverson blinked. It was clear he was still trying to figure out whether he was inside a lucid dream. "I suppose so..."

"Will you make sure nothing hurts Blue? She doesn't like the way everyone is looking at her."

Iverson shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips. He couldn't believe the bizarrity of the situation. "I- I mean sure. Can you talk to that thing?"

"She doesn't appreciate being called a thing. She prefers to go by Blue." As if responding to Lance's statement, the mechanical lion raised her head and opened her mouth to produce a loud roar that seemed to shake every little blade of grass on the field. Iverson paled as if he had seen a ghost.

-

"As you know, I went missing for a year. I spent my time up in space with Blue," Lance started, making Iverson nod because he knew that much. He just couldn't connect being kidnapped or running away and space, of all things. Lance had never been the top pilot so it didn't make sense that he would be able to make his way into space without stealing any Garrison technology. Nothing was missing. Iverson didn't understand where the lion came into it either. There just wasn't a chance a ship so extravagant was hidden somewhere on Earth. Someone would have found it. How did one of the most mediocre students, who failed every single simulator he tried, find it before anyone else? "There were another four lions too. We were defending the universe against an evil race known as the Galra. We won the battle, as you can probably tell because I'm here to tell the tale."

"How do I know you're not making this up?" Iverson had every reason to be sceptical as his eyebrows just climbed and climbed his forehead. Lance half expected them to reach the roof and part of Iverson did too. Lance had always been a bit of a troublemaker but not once did Iverson consider him going that far.

"You saw the lion, didn't you? You know that was real so why would I lie about the rest?"

"I don't know... it just all sounds so insane... " Iverson shifted back in his seat, shaking his head in a colossal amount of disbelief. He rubbed his eyes with his fists but the hope that he would wake up and everything would be normal again had phased away by then. "Why are you even telling me this?"

"Because I think we can help you. The Garrison is the most high-tech place on Earth. We can use the technology we discovered to help you grow even more advanced. We met two aliens from a planet known as Altea and others from Alkafa which had some amazing technology we could utilise to make Earth more defensive against attacks."

"Why should we trust you?"

Lance raised his hands in defence, smiling a stupid smile that Iverson had come to hate throughout the student's time at the Garrison. It was the exact one he would do whenever he knew he had weaseled his way out of trouble; Iverson had seen in many more times that he wanted to. "You saw what you saw, Sir." Then there was that tone. The one students didn't deserve to use that meant I have power over you. Lance McClain had never been Iverson's least favourite student but, at that moment, he was skating on thin ice.

"Who else is with you?"

"Katie Holt, Takashi Shirogane, Keith Kogane and Hunk Garret."

Iverson let out a long huff that made him question exactly why he was debating trusting Lance McClain of all people. "Show us the other lions and then we'll consider. We need to know you aren't pulling some sort of prank. If you are, there will be serious consequences. We could get you sent to prison for-"

"Yes, I understand, Sir. You won't regret this."

"I better not." Iverson could only hope that, when he saw Takashi Shirogane, a trusted Garrison pilot, he would feel more reassured.