Third Person POV

In the castle, there was a big party happening with all the Arusians in the ballroom/grand hall. On the stairs, the Arusians had put together some play that almost everyone was watching. 

"The monster fell from the sky! It was an epic battle, but Voltron was victorious!" The king yelled as the group of Arusians that represented Voltron fell in defeat. "... No. I said Voltron was victorious!" The 'Voltron' Arusians got back up and knocked the 'robeast' Arusians down.

The Arusians cheer while the Arusians bow before Allura walked up to the king. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for that... wonderful production. It saddens me that we must leave tomorrow, but we must continue our battle with Zarkon and spread peace throughout the universe." Allura smiled as she handed the king a communicator. "Your Highness... please accept this gift. This will allow you to contact us anytime you need help. Arus will be the first planet in the Voltron Alliance."

The king holds up the communicator and shouts out a cheer to his people in which they shout back. Hunk came up to where Keith, Lance, and Nyle were with a smile. "We ought to get something like that." He says.

"Like what?" Lance asked

"You know, like, a cheer. Like, a team cheer that we do." 

"Mm-hmm. Yeah, okay. How about, uh... I say 'Vol' and you say 'Tron.' Vol—!"

"Uh... Vol-tron?" Keith says while raising an eyebrow. 

"No! No, no, no, no, no. The cheer includes the instructions. I say 'Vol' and you say..." 

"... Vol-tron?" 

"... We'll work on it."

Nyle laughed some and shakes her head a little bit. "Keith I don't think you get it." He shrugs as Lance drunk the liquid in the cup before recoiling in disgust. 

"Coran, what is this?" Lance asked, almost yelled.

 "Oh, this is Nunvill, the nectar of the gods," Coran replies. 

"It tastes like hot dog water and feet." 

"Yeah, makes a wonderful hair tonic as well." Lance groaned as the two boys started poking and walking around him. 

Nyle rolled her eyes and grumbled. "Don't poke the poor thing!" They stop and look at her before Lance fell over, making her facepalm. "Now look what you did." 

Keith shrugged some and laughed a little, grabbing a cup of Nunvill as he took a sip of it. But he stopped halfway and spit it out onto Hunk, making him turn away. He turned back with lollipop looking things on his eyes. "Ow, my eyes!"

The gag makes everyone laugh as Hunk ate the lollipop things after. Nyle crossed her arms and smiled at them, seeing Lance get up again. "You alright there space drink?" She laughed and raised an eyebrow. 

Lance rolled his eyes but snickered. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I'll be alright." 

"Well, at least you're back up on your feet again huh?" 

Lance laughed a little and nodded. "I guess we should get used to this space juice. Who knows when we'll get back home again?" 

"Yeah, if ever," Hunk says, rolling his eyes. 

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean, if this Zarkon guy has been ruling for 10,000 years, how long do you think it will take for us to fix it? You know, if we live." Hunk adds.

"Right. That." 

Nyle sighed as she looked down before biting her lip, wrapping her arms around herself. "Nyle? You alright?" Keith asked while looking over to Nyle. 

She smiled and nodded, humming. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just, getting a little homesick I guess." 

He looked at her unsure but nodded and looked back at the other two. "Well, there's only one planet with Veradera Beach, pizza shack looking over the water, and the garlic knots and... my mom's hugs..." Lance started to tear up and sighed shakily. "I'm sorry. I think this Nunvill is getting to me. I gotta go." 

Nyle frowned some, not liking to see Lance so upset, and went after him while biting her lip. She sat next to him and hums. "I know how you feel Lance, I'm homesick too. I know you miss your family, I miss mine too. It's funny actually, this month was our older sister's wedding and she wanted Hunk and me to be a part of it. I was supposed to be a bridesmaid and Hunk was gonna be a groomsman. So, knowing her she's gonna postpone it until we're back. My point is, our families are most definitely gonna miss us too. And, worry about where we are you know. So, don't feel too bad because we'll see them again. After we take down this stupid Galra dumbass, we'll be free to go home." She smiled at him while patting his back. 

He looked at her and smiled some while laughing a little. "Thanks, Nyle that actually helped a lot to hear you say that. What was your dress supposed to look like?" 

She laughed some while humming. "My sister didn't mind the style but it had to be the color baby blue. So mine was gonna be off the shoulder with a little slit on my right leg, lace on my arms, and on the midriff. It was, so pretty. I doubt I'll be able to fit in it when we get back." They both laugh before Lance sighed. 

"I just wanna be back home with my family. With all my siblings and my parents, my niece, and nephew." Nyle rubs the boy's back while humming. 

"I know you do, I miss my siblings too. My parents, my nieces, my nephews, and my grandparents. Everybody. But, for right now all we can hold onto are thoughts and memories until we can go back to make new ones."

"Mind if I join you?" Coran asks, the two looking over to see him walking towards them. 

"How far away from earth do you think we are, Coran?" Lance asked while the older hums. 

"Let's take a look." He brought up a holographic map and pointed to a planet. "Earth is over here. And we're aaaaaaall... the waaaaay... oveeeeer..."

Both Lance and Nyle frown some as they watch the map just keep going. Lance sighed and got up, walking over to the map. "You ever notice how far the planets are from each other, Coran?"

"Yes. Haven't you been paying attention?" Coran says back as he stopped the map. 

"Yeah, but I mean, like, they're really, really far away. Like, say, earth? It's so far, I can't even see it. The... The blue oceans, the white clouds, green grass... I c—-I-I... I can't see any of it." 

"You miss earth. I understand. I miss Altea." 

"I know we're supposed to be brave Paladins and Defenders of the Universe or whatever, but, honestly? I just want to go home." 

"Yeah, especially now after being away from our families. Very far away from the people, we love." Nyle piped in as she walked over as well.

"If I could go home, I would," Coran says, sadly.

"I miss rain, and splashing in puddles," Lance says, making Nyle crack a smile. 

"Playing in the puddles was always so much fun huh?" Nyle adds quietly.

"Rain?" Coran asked. 

 "Yeah. It's water that falls from the sky?" Lance said a little carefully.

"It's what waters all our plants," Nyle says in agreement with Lance.

"Oh, we had that on Altea. Only, it wasn't water, more like rocks. Razor-sharp and boiling-hot. Oh, they could knock a hole right in your head." Coran states, a smile coming to his face as he remembers his memories of Altea.

"Sounds fun." 

"Yeah." 

The three continue to talk for a while before going to leave as 'Rover' came into the room, Lance waving to him. "Hey, Rover." 

Nyle stopped walking for a moment and looked back. "Wait a minute, wasn't Rover with Pidge?" She saw the thing start blinking and looked back to Lance and Coran. "Guys!" 

Lance had already lunged to get Coran, trying to grab Nyle as well before it exploded, and managed to grab her, shielding her from the worst of it.

The blast, caused by the drone, made the castle lose power and the Arusians panicked, running back towards the safety of their village. The team rushed to see what had happened and sees Coran unharmed. "What happened?!" Shiro yelled as he helped him up. 

"Ugh... I'm not sure." Coran replied while getting up.

Once the smoke clears, Allura's eyes go towards the missing Crystal and she gasps. "The Crystal!" 

The team hears a couple groans and looked towards the floor, seeing Lance and Nyle laying there unconscious. "Lance!" Shiro ran to him as Hunk ran towards Nyle. 

"Nyle!" He held onto her as he checked over her. 

Shiro held onto Lance and tried to get his attention. "Lance...? Lance!" 

"We have to get them to the infirmary!" Pidge yelled, panicked. 

"Without the Crystal, the Castle has no power," Allura says, conflicted. 

"They don't look good," Shiro says while glancing between both of them. 

Hunk only stared down at his sister and held her close to him. "Nyle... Please be ok..." 

The Arusian king runs in and goes to the paladins. "Lion warriors, our village is under attack! We need help!" 

"Let's get to the Lions!" Keith yelled, getting ready to leave but Allura stopped him. 

"You can't. They're sealed in their hangars. There's no way to get them out. We're defenseless." She says while sighing. 

"Will you not help us?" The king says, terrified for his village and his people.

Keith sighed and turned to the king. "We'll help you. We just—"

Lance and Nyle groan out in pain, still completely limp and banged up badly. 

"This is bad," Hunk says, looking up at everyone. 

"We have to get a new Crystal to get the Castle working again. But, to get a new Crystal, we need a ship." Coran states while looking between everyone.

"The pod I was loading, we can use that! I left the bay door open." Pidge exclaimed. 

"I can use the scanner in the pod to see if there's a Balmera nearby. Hunk, you come with me. I'll need someone big to help me carry the Crystal." Coran says motioning towards Hunk. 

"A Balmera?" He asked as Shiro gently took Nyle from Hunk so he could get going. 

"It's where the Crystals come from. I'll tell you about it on the way!" The three of them run off towards where the flight pod is. 

"I'll go see what's happening at the Arusian village," Keith says while starting to walk towards the entrance. 

"I'll go with you, Keith. I brought this on the poor Arusians." Allura says. 

 "I'll tend to these two and stand watch over the Castle," Shiro says, the other two nodding before running off with the king.

Hunk's POV 

Coran and I were in this pod while Pidge stood outside of it. He was scanning for whatever this Balmera thing was. I just wanted to stay with my sister, at least take care of her. I should've stayed with her and I shouldn't have let her out of my sight. 

"It's our first bit of luck. There's a source not too far. We won't need a Wormhole to get there, thankfully." Coran knocked me out of my thoughts and I looked towards him. 

"I made some modifications to the shuttle. The first change is a cloaking device that I reverse-engineered from the invisible walls on the Training Deck. The second is a tank of booster fuel that I mounted on the fuel line." I looked back at Pidge while leaning back on the seat. 

"Using that during flight would turn the whole pod into a bomb!" Coran yelled, making me nervous as I gave Pidge a look.

"Okay. Maybe you shouldn't use that modification after all." He states while fixing his glass. 

I sigh and put my helmet on, having only a small amount of difficulty. "We ready to hit it?" I looked at Coran and bit my lip.

"Right. Let's go." He said and prepared our pod for take off.

Pidge gave us a thumbs up and smiled. "Good luck!" 

I gave him a thumbs-up back before we took off, going towards this Balmera. 

Shiro's POV

I had both Lance and Nyle on each of my arms and I wanted to get them near the entrance so I could take care of them but so I could also keep the castle safe. "Hang on, guys. Help is on the way." 

Looking towards the bridge I saw what was probably the cause of this all. "Sendak!" I put Lance and Nyle down before meeting Sendak in front of the castle. 

"Stand aside."

"No! You're not getting in," Sendak growls and charged his arm, as did I.

"Yes, I am."  He charged at me and I ran at him, he knocked me back and I hit him a few times. He got locked in a punch and it was just a staring competition at this point.

"I see you spent some time with the Druids. They do love to experiment. Too bad you didn't get the latest model." God, this guy's voice was getting irritating. He shot his arm at me, flying back inside the castle. He retracted it back and tried to body slam me, though I was quick enough to move away. Once again, we were on a standoff like stance. My hand was near his throat and his hand was near mine. 

"Let him go or your friends won't make it!" I look to where the voice came from and froze seeing them drop Lance and Nyle down, I can't let anything happen to them. 

Next thing I knew I was knocked down and unconscious. 

Pidge's POV 

"Voltron is ours." He's got Shiro now too, dammit. 

"Oh no." I can't stay in this spot for too long, I'll get spotted. I ran towards another part of the castle but where I can safely overhear them. 

"Power up the Castle." I look over and see them attach a crystal of their own to the castle, seeing it power up again. 'Crap, what am I gonna do?' 

"The Lions are all in their bays. Raising particle barrier. Begin launch sequence." I look over again and I think I hear Keith or maybe it's Allura. But I can't hear clearly.

I listen a little longer before walking away to try and contact either of them, starting to hear them more clearly. "Can we break through the barrier?" That's Keith.

"No. And whoever has taken the Castle has a Crystal, which means they'll be able to fly the ship. We have to stop them." And that's Allura. Thank god they're both ok. 

"How are we going to do that?" 

I have to try and contact them. "Keith, can you hear me?" I had to whisper because I didn't wanna get caught so soon.

"Pidge! Is that you? Where are you?" Keith yelled and I quickly walked further, not wanting to be seen or noticed.

"I'm inside the Castle. Sendak has taken over and he's preparing for launch. He's got Lance, Nyle, and Shiro."

"Pidge, listen. If they've started the launch sequence, then we don't have much time before liftoff to stop it." Allura piped in, I had laser focus at this point. 

"What do I have to do?" 

"You have to get down to the main engine control panel and disconnect the primary turbine from the Central Energy Chamber. If you can do that, Sendak will have to reset the whole system. That might give us enough time to find a way to stop them." I jot down what I need to do and pull up the map of the castle before running towards it.

Hunk's POV 

"Is this the Balmera planet with the crystals?" I ask, looking around the fog? Clouds maybe? 

"It's not a planet. Balmera are ancient animals. Petrified, but still alive. Their bodies naturally create the crystals that help power many Altean ships. I often accompanied my grandfather to visit these majestic creatures when he was building the Castle of Lions. I'll never forget the first time I saw the sparkling surface of a Balmera. You're in for quite a treat." Coran says while pulling up a picture of the Balmera. 

I heard Coran gasp when the Balmera came into view, there was Galra stuff everywhere. This was horrible. "Oh, no... This is horrifying. The Galra have turned this into a mining colony! Oh, they're completely destroying it! They have no regard for the poor creature!" 

I heard something and see a fighter right above us, making me panic a small bit. "Uh-oh. We've been spotted." 

The thing or person inside, whatever it was, started to talk and it was freaking me out. "Hailing unidentified craft. State your ship ID, entry code, and landing destination." 

I looked to Coran, panicking even more. I don't think I can do this. "Oh, no. What do we do?" I was terrified, something bad was gonna happen and I don't think we'll be able to get out of this.

"Just stay calm." He radioed this thing and started to talk. "We don't really need to land. Uh, we're just looking around, if that's okay." 

It was quiet for a moment before it started talking again. "Unidentified craft, land immediately and prepare to be boarded." 

I groaned some and leaned my head back. This is it, we're gonna die. Bye Hunk and Coran. "Okay. Uh, thank you. See you down below." He stopped radioing it and almost immediately started flying backwards, making me scream out in shock. 

The jet started chasing us and firing lasers at us, my panic bar too high for comfort right now. "Not done yet. Hang on!" He flew us down into one of the seeming mining holes and sped as fast as he could, I only screamed louder. 

"Coran! Coran!" The thing just kept going down and down. I started to calm down from all the adrenaline and leaned back. "... ... How deep is this thing?" 

Some kind of Galra structure got into our way and the pod was going too fast for us to avoid it and we hit it, crashing all the way down. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no—!" 

The pod opened and I looked around before seeing two sets of glowing eyes, making me freeze up. "Coran, what lives at the bottom of these mines?" 

Pidge's POV 

I managed to pry open one of the elevators and hold it open. "Hey, Rover." He flies in and I go in, the door closing behind me. "Okay, Rover, here we go." He followed me all the way down and we started to make our way to Central Energy Chamber Allura told me to go to. "Okay, Allura, I'm near the turbine. I think it's started." 

"Then you'll have to hurry. Cross the catwalk to the main column in the center." She says to me, I did as told, looking at the column.

"Okay." 

"Now, open the hatch. Find the central computer control hub and enter the following sequence..." Allura started to say it and I noticed that I couldn't even read anything. 

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Which one is it? All the labels are in Altean!" I felt the ship starting to launch and looked at all these stupid Altean words. I started panicking and looking for some kind of solution to this mess. "I can't tell which one it is! Allura? Allura? Uh..." I pull up my bayard and sigh before looking between them. "Uh... Uh... Whatever." I slash all the little power modules and I was almost immediately thrown backwards but I stopped the castle from taking off so it was alright. I started running off because someone was probably gonna be coming down here to fix it.