The Gold Paladin

The Hunted

Keith left the Castle with the Black Lion in a rush to find Lotor. Having placed a tracking device on Lotor's ship earlier in the previous battle, the Paladins knew where they were going, but Novae was even more terrified of facing that man.

They flew towards a far planet with large rings around it. The planet was rocky with plenty of the craters on its surface, signifying its age.

"Lotor's cruiser is on the other side of the planet." Pidge informed the others. "At our current rate of speed, we'll be within attack range in an hour."

"Good. Hold formation." Keith responded.

"Keith, perhaps we should consider going back to the Castle. We are going against a foe we have knowledge of. We must turn back and gather information before making any rash decisions." Novae suggested, but Keith didn't say anything.

Truth is, Novae did not want to face Lotor. The last time she faced the Galran prince.... she almost lost more than her life. Her entire team could've been lost that day. 

An hour passed when the team finally spotted Lotor's cruiser. Suddenly, the Blue Lion bumped into the Yellow Lion.

"Oh! Apologies, Hunk!" Allura shouted.

"Mm, okay, I know Novae already said this, but is attacking right now such a good idea?" Hunk asked, "I mean, more than half of our team aren't really used to our Lions."

"Do you mean me, specifically?" Allura asked in an accusing and annoyed tone.

"You? No. No way, I didn't-- I'm just simply pointing out that half of the team are in new lions. Maybe now's not a great time to bite off more than we can chew."

"You can blame our hot-headed leader for that one." Lance shouted.

Keith sighed angrily, "First, you want me to lead, and then you complain about how I do it. Like I said before, Prince Lotor is the heir to the Galra throne. We could end his reign right now."

The Red Lion flew off behind the Black Lion.

"Allura, you doing okay in Blue?" Lance asked.

"I'm fine." Allura answered, "I've been flying the Castle for half my life. I just need a few ticks to adjust to the lion."

"Good.. because we're going in." Keith said before they flew closer towards Lotor's cruiser.

🦁🦁🦁~~~~🦁🦁🦁

Lotor and his team stayed in space near an abandoned planet waiting to make their move against the Paladins who flew closer. Lotor knew that the Paladins had placed a tracker on his ship, but he allowed it to stay on because he wanted to see the six Voltron Lions personally. 

But also, he wanted to meet the golden haired Paladin once again. Perhaps this time, he would be able to get what he wanted from her.

The ship beeped repeatedly and the screens showed the six lions flying towards them.

"The lions will be on us in one varga. What are your orders?" Acxa asked Lotor.

"I say we turn around and start shooting." Zethrid suggested, wanting to fight right away.

Lotor clasped his hands under his chin and leaned forward thinking about what their next move would be.

"We just learned that all six lions are operational. There's still much we don't know." He stood up, "Keep the cruiser on this heading until my return. Ready my fighter. I'm going to attack the lions myself."

"You'll never take them all out on your own." Zethrid warned, "And what about that Golden Lion? We didn't know there would be a sixth one."

"I'm not trying to. And as for that Golden Lion, I know the Paladin personally. And I want to talk to her for a little while." Lotor said before leaving the bridge and boarding his fighter, smiling as he thought back to the girl he fought all those years ago.