The Gold Paladin

I'm Sorry....

Voltron flew through space in following the rouge pod Shiro was using to escape. All of the Paladins were shocked to see Shiro act like this, but Novae could clearly feel it now. The heart beneath the skin.

It wasn't the heart of their leader. This was not the Shiro they all knew.

"Young Star..."

"I know, Zaurelia. This man is not Takashi. How could I not have seen it before? I couldn't see the heart before the skin." Novae said, blaming herself for seeing that this Shiro was a fake.

"You couldn't have known. Not even I could sense it."

Novae sighed and suddenly felt a rush of pain run through her entire body. She let go of her controls and clutched herself to rid her body of the pain. But it wasn't going away as quickly as she had hoped. 

"Novae, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Novae could hear the voices of her fellow Paladins, but she couldn't answer until a few seconds later when the pain finally faded.

"I'm... fine..." Novae answered, "Focus on the mission. We need to get Takashi back and figure what's happened."

The three ships piloted by Lotor's generals fired at Voltron with a single highly charged shot. Voltron summoned its shield, however, the blast was powerful enough to push them back into a large asteroid floating behind them.

"I'm heading your way!" Coran shouted.

"Coran, No!" Keith shouted back, "The Castle of Lions barely survived the first time we fought one of those ships. You'll only--"

Keith was cut off by another shot fired at Voltron. Everyone shouted in pain from the impact.

"Keith is right, Coran, the ship's defenses will never hold!" Allura added.

"Guys, we can't take this much longer!" Pidge exclaimed.

"Do you guys have any ideas?" Lance asked.

Keith looked around at our surroundings and got an idea.

"Coran, fire just below our position." Keith said.

"What?" Coran replied shocked by his order, but Novae quickly got the idea.

"Coran, do as Keith ordered!" Novae said as quickly as Coran's reply.

Coran didn't hesitate to follow Keith's order and fired a laser at the rock underneath Voltron. The rock was quickly destroyed and they were able to fly away hidden in the crumbling chaos.

"Lance! Pidge! I need you to get us some cover. Novae, can you the wings a boost to make us faster?" Keith said.

"Of course..." Novae said with a nod, "Zaurelia, can you do that?"

"Of course, Young Star."

The Green and Blue lions fired at the surrounding rocks to create cover while the generals were still following Voltron.

"Who's got eyes on Shiro?" Keith asked, but Voltron was stopped by something tugging on Voltron's waist.

The three Galra shot out multiple ropes of energy and wrapped them around Voltron's waist then pulled Voltron away from Shiro's ship, flinging them into a large rock nearby.

 Everyone groaned from the impact and the Galra ships quickly flew away.

"What just happened?" Pidge asked.

All of a sudden, Novae gasped when the Gold Lion detected a strange energy wave appear nearby.

"Gold, what is this energy signal?" Novae asked.