Speed Demons

Part 25

Keith

As usual, I almost fell over as Percy tackled me. I had just duelled with Zarkon of all people, only it wasn't Zarkon. It was a younger version of him before he had gone bad.

When I arrived, Percy had tackled a man in similar armour to the paladins to the ground, dagger at his throat. Zarkon was still behind me, standing awkwardly. Percy looked at him strangely. "You broke my back."

Zarkon stood there confused. "Sorry?" He said, but it sounded like a question. "I don't remember any of that. My successor here filled me in on... what I do. But I do not remember any of it."  Percy shrugged.

The man he had been fighting stood up, and I finally got a look at him. His armour was the same as the former black paladin's, only the colours had been inverted. The figure was around Percy's height, and the figure seemed masculine. When my gaze reached his face I froze. It was Percy. Only, Percy was standing right next to me.

The other paladins had walked over, as well as their predecessors. "Father!" Alura all but body-checked Alfor, not that I could blame her.

Percy looked between them all. "Are these..."

"Yup!" Pidge chirped, "the original paladins of Voltron."

Trigel walked up to him, inspecting him closely. "You must be Percy Jackson." She said, "I've heard a lot about you." The boy in question smiled nervously, shaking her hand.

Alfor and Zarkon turned to the Percy lookalike.  "It's you..." Alfor said.

The lookalike's eyes widened when he saw the two of them, but he didn't acknowledge them otherwise. He turned to Percy. "Who are you?" He asked, "Why are you glaring? And why do we look the same?"

"Because, father," he spat the word father as if it were venom. I raised my eyebrows as Zoran's eyes widened. "You murdered my mother." He turned to the others, "King Alfor, you know this níđingr?" Zoran cringed at the word, his eyes darkening.

"Y-yes." The King replied, "Not long before Altea was destroyed, another Trans-Reality Comet landed on a planet called Asgard."

"That shouldn't be possible." Percy said, "You can't just go to Asgard. It's a bit like Oriande."

"Yes, well" Zarkon continued, "those comets don't make much sense."

"I went to investigate," Alfor continued as if no one had spoken, "but this young man had already claimed the smaller comet and begun building a ship from the ore."

"He reverse-engineered a Voltron Lion?" Percy asked him.

"Indeed," the Altean replied, looking at Zoran hard.

Everyone but Zarkon whirled on him. "Why didn't you tell us about this?" Gyrgan asked him.

Alfor looked at him blankly. "I was a bit preoccupied with the threat of my home planet being destroyed by my best friend." Gyrgan shrugged.

"Is the ship still out there, somewhere?" Katie asked, taking Percy's arm.

"It should be," Zoran mumbled, looking at Percy sadly. "I don't know where it could be, but it's functioning. I was minding my business, but it just stood up and left one day. I hadn't seen it since."

"Honerva is likely looking for it." Alura said, "We must find it first."

"Back to square one," Lance sighed dramatically. I smiled, he was so cute.

Alfor looked at his daughter and his eyes widened. "You bonded with a trans-dimensional entity," he accused in shock. "That is what caused Zarkon and Honerva to turn evil 10000 years ago."