His Rival

You're Going Down!

Hey guys, Jess here!

Surprise surprise, this chapter came out a bit early (looks like someone's excited for season 7 😅). And it's quite long too (19.9 pages/ 6,735 words), so please take breaks as needed.

If you have any questions or comments about this chapter, let me know; I'd like to hear from you!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Just as you pulled away from Lance and Allura, a transmission window appeared on the screen ahead, the somewhat disheveled figure on it drawing your attention.

"Hailing the castle of lions, this is Keith" he called out, jolting your heart.

"Keith!" Lance voiced.

"You're okay" you softly added. He had a pointed marking trailing up from his jawline on one side of his face and a similarly colored bruise on the other, but at least he was still in one piece.

"Where've you been?" Allura asked, her previous sorrow washed away by his obvious success. "Did you get Shiro?"

"I got him, but it's not the Shiro we know" he disclosed, his voice sinking with the severity of his next revelation. "The Shiro that took Lotor was a clone."

"Huh?" you interjected, flinching in place. "I thought he was just mind controlled!" That added a whole new aspect to your situation, leaving even more unanswered questions than before. But at the same time, it was one of the many missing puzzle pieces you needed. That had to be the key to the new form of mind control Haggar used on him. Him being a clone must've given her far more control, allowing her to activate it remotely among other things.

"Yeah, if that's the case, where's the real one?" Lance speculated.

"It's complicated, we'll discuss it later" Keith concluded. "Right now, you need to focus on Lotor. I've picked up the Sincline ships on my scanners. It looks like Lotor's heading back to your position, right where you are." From the map he was showing you, they were just in range of the castle, about twenty-five or thirty minutes away at most.

"He wants to get back into the quintessence field" Allura deduced, sharing your frown at the mention of his upcoming return.

"I'm on my way to you now, but without a wormhole, it's gonna take a while" Keith informed. "You'll have to hold off Lotor without me. (Y/n), I'll need you to continue holding down the fort until I get to you."

"You got it Keith" you assured, your jaw clenching in conviction. There was no way you were going to let him or the rest of your team down.

"We'll do what we can" Lance added. After the screen flickered out, you held down a button to address the rest of the castle.

"Alright team, let's get to our lions."

"Accessing the quintessence field has been Lotor's singular drive for millennia" Allura stressed as you sild into your seat. "He wants to harness the power for himself, but we cannot let him."

"Fortunately, there's only one way into the quintessence field, through the interreality gate" you continued as your lion revved up, your screens flickering on in unison with the exterior lights and thrusters. "So we must destroy it."

"I'll continue working on the castle to get it up and running before Lotor arrives" Coran announced. "It'll be slow going without the paladins, but we'll get it done."

"Good luck Coran" Allura replied. "We'll need all the help we can get in the fight against Lotor." When you led them outside, your target was straight ahead. In the cratered-out center of the bronze remans of Daibazaal hovered a pulsating blue ring with what looked like a gigantic retro fidget spinner inside.