Haggar, losing control of both her pawns, was furious.
"Order them to attack, Lotor," Haggar screeched. "NOW! NOW!"
Lotor glared at the witch. "I knew you were going to fail again, witch. We could have beaten them a long time ago…"
"Shut up, Sire, and just order them to attack!"
"We’re under attack," Keith said, pulling Allura from the floor and half-dragging her towards the Ballroom entrance. Because of the length of her gown, she couldn’t fight through the crowd well enough – so Keith swept her off her feet and carried her in his arms as they ran for Castle Control with the rest of the Force and Coran.
"There is a fleet of ships attacking us from above," Coran said, after tapping a series of commands into the computer. "And a Robeast attacking us from the east of the Castle."
"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Hunk. "Let’s go!"
"Voltron can’t handle both," Coran said dismally. "The fleet is one of the largest we’ve ever seen, and the Robeast is almost just as powerful. We cannot do this alone."
"My forces will fight with you," a voice said. "We will take care of the fleet."
Keith spun around and found Balcos standing there
with Admiral Tagor. Another blast shook the castle, and Keith caught Allura
as she almost fell over.
Keith shook his hand in gratitude. Then he looked
around at the rest of the team. "Now what are you guys waiting for?"
With that, he ran to the portal leading to his lion. The others quickly
followed.
"Keith!" Allura cried. "Are you all right? Answer me, dammit!" She dove sharply towards the Black Lion, determined to help him out, her speed the only thing that saving her from another blast from the Robeast.
"I’m fine – Allura, keep your altitude. How many times do I have to remind you to stay in the air unless you’re commanded to dive? You were almost hit!" Keith angrily barked into his comm-link. Despite his rebuke, Allura couldn’t help but smile in relief. Black Lion shot back into the sky, catching up beside Blue Lion as they zoomed towards the monster.
In the meantime, Green Lion and Red Lion attacked the robeast from both sides, while Hunk fired proton missiles at it from above. In horror, Allura watched as huge chains shot out of the robeasts arms sockets and wrapped around Red Lion and Green Lion just as Hunk scored a direct hit strong enough to make the Robeast fall backwards onto the ground, taking the two lions with it.
Using their razor blades, Keith and Allura sliced Pidge and Lance free of the chains, and all four flew out of reach of the Robeast before it could clamber upright again. Another huge blast of laser energy hit Green Lion, making Pidge spin out of control. Red Lion and Yellow Lion caught Green Lion’s front paws in their jaws while Keith and Allura distracted the Robeast with more missles.
"Pidge, are you okay?" Keith asked, watching as Lance and Hunk released Green Lion and Pidge regained stable altitude.
"Aye aye, Captian," Pidge quipped. "Though for a moment there the world sort of went spinning."
"Your mind is always spinning," Lance told him. "Hey, Keith, what do you say we give this ugly thing a lesson it won’t forget?"
"Let’s bring in the big guns!" Hunk enthused, punching a fist into the air.
Keith grinned. "I couldn’t have had a better idea.
Let’s form Voltron!"
"Haggar, you’ll pay for what you did to Kayla," Balcos ground out through gritted teeth. "I’ll destroy you."
"Sire, the nuclear pulse cannon will be ready to fire in ten seconds."
"Aim it at the Command Ship. We’re going to blast
them back to their galaxy in a million separate pieces," Balcos ordered
coldly, then faltered as a blast shook his ship.
"Oh, but we’re winning," she replied, waving her
hands over her staff to make it glow in an unearthly purple light. "The
Voltron Force is in for a big surprise."
"What in the world –" Lance began, trailing off into a loud scream echoed by the rest of the force as a beam of energy coming from the Robeast’s eyes swept through all of them and pinned Voltron to the ground. The Robeast bore down on him, raising a sword and preparing to strike.
"Can’t move," groaned Hunk, wincing in pain.
"Keith, it’s coming from the eyes," Pidge gasped.
Keith knew they had to knock the Robeast off balance and make it shut off its eye beam long enough for them to form the Blazing Sword and end this battle. He fought against his pain and pressed a button on his console. "Electroforce Cross!" A blast of light and energy erupted from Voltron’s chest and threw the Robeast off him.
Suddenly, they could all move again.
"Form Blazing Sword!" Keith ordered. The powerful blade sprung to life within Voltron’s hands, and before the Robeast could rise from the ground, Voltron charged it. It tried to block Voltron’s strike with its own sword, but Voltron’s sword sliced through the sword and slashed into the Robeast.
A resounding crash and a blinding flash of light split the air as the Robeast exploded.
"All right!" Hunk said. "As usual, Haggar’s old tricks could never stop us."
"Keith, look! I think that’s Balcos’ ship! It’s falling," Allura gasped as a streak of silver spewing smoke hurled through the sky.
In a burst of speed, Voltron met the ship in mid-air, catching its weight and slowing its fall.
"Are you guys alright?" asked Lance into his comm-link. "Balcos? Admiral Tagor?"
"Yes – but our ships are in trouble up here," Tagor replied.
"Don’t worry about it, we’ll make Lotor sorry he ever thought up this stinky plan," Hunk said. With that, Voltron shot back up into the air, straight for Lotor’s command ship.
Inside the command ship, all was in chaos. "Retreat!" shouted Lotor, watching Voltron loom closer. "Retreat!"
One by one the Doom ships disengaged the Falkorian fleet and followed the lead of their command ship. The beleaguered Falkorians suddenly roared in victory at the sight of the fleeing Doom ships. Voltron destroyed a few before they flew out of sight.
"When we get back to Planet Doom, old witch…" Lotor snarled as he watched the receding form of Planet Arus on the screen of his command ship. "You are going to be very sorry you convinced me to listen to you. Very, very sorry."
"They’re getting away!" whined Hunk. "Aren’t we going to go after them?"
"No, Hunk," Keith said. "We have to see to these ships first." He grinned. "Besides, I have a feeling that Lotor won’t be back to bother us for a long time!"
They split back into five separate Lions and guided
the severely injured ships back to the ground, laughing all the while.
"Leland is fine," he began, tearing off his face mask, a weary expression on his face. "He was greatly weakened by the mind-control Haggar put on him, but he is a strong healthy little boy and will be fine in a few hours. As for Kayla, the laser was only set on stun, but the beam hit her back at the area right behind her heart. She went into arrest after we took her here. We managed to revive her, but at the moment, we’re not sure about her chances." He sighed, laying a sympathetic hand on Balcos’ shoulder. "I’m sorry."
Everyone stared at him, horrified and stunned.
"NO!" Balcos shouted, pushing the doctor out of the way and rushing into the room.
He halted at the foot of Kayla’s bed and watched her for a few moments, her form so still, her jet black head spread on the pillow and her skin so pale that it almost blended into the color of the bed’s sheets. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were turned up. She seemed to exude a feeling of peace.
He walked to her side and knelt by her, holding a hand to her cheek. It was so cold. He kissed her forehead tenderly. "Kayla?" he whispered. "Kayla, I love you. Don’t leave me. Don’t ever leave me." Tears began to stream from his eyes. "I’ve always loved only you. Only you." He lay his head on the bed. To his surprise he felt a light weight upon his head. He looked up and saw that her eyes were open.
"Balcos?" she whispered. He moved up to hear her. "Balcos, I love you, too. So much." She smiled at him then slowly closed her eyes again.
As they watched Kayla and Balcos, Keith gently squeezed Allura’s hand as she lay her head on his shoulder for comfort, tears filling their eyes as well.
Allura's Wedding -- I Thee Wed