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Keith Faces His Kingdom
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The following is a story of Voltron I made up based on the T.V. cartoon Voltron by World Events Productions. I did not have World Events Productions' permission to do the story and therefore it does not have World Events Productions' endorsement.
“Coran, we’re ready,” said the princess when she stopped beside Keith after entering the Castle Control room.
Coran turned away from the castle controls.
“You found the information you needed already?” questioned Coran.
“Yes, we’re ready,” repeated Allura.
”Are you ready Captain?” asked Coran looking directly at Keith.
Snickering could suddenly be heard from the three people behind Keith. He glared off to his side, as if by looking that way he could see behind him, and with a look annoyance on his face over Lance, Hunk, and Pidge he said, “Yes, I’m ready,” confidently with an edge of sounding annoyed, but without a trace of sounding nervous.
Coran glared at the three in the back and they were suddenly silent with strange looks on their faces as they were straining to hold back their snickers.
”All right, then,” said Coran slowly taking his glare off the boys whereupon they immediately started snickering again. “I’ll arrange for the people to be there for the announcement.” Coran started to turn away but suddenly turned back, glaring with fury at Lance, Hunk, and Pidge. “And unless you three can control yourselves, you won’t be there!”
Lance, Hunk, and Pidge hung their heads in shame, for which of coarse they were partially faking because as soon as they were out of the Castle Control room where Coran wouldn’t hear them, they burst into laughter.
"I really ought to tell Coran on you guys,” said Keith sarcastically while shaking his head and walking ahead of them beside Allura.
”Yeah, right,”commented Pidge and he started laughing harder.
Back at Castle Control, Coran paused in thought for a short moment after the team had left. Then he too snickered a little over Keith’s situation.
It was an amazingly short period of time before all the people of the kingdom had gathered in front of the castle to hear what they had been informed was the princess’s wedding announcement. Keith and Allura were waiting in the room just before the front balcony of the castle. The only ones to go out onto the balcony at the proper time were Coran, Allura, and Keith. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were also there, but were not to go out on the balcony. Then Nanny also walked into the room.
”Princess, your aunt, Queen Orla, is also here!” Nanny said excitedly.
”Oh, Coran,” said the princess excitedly. “We must let her in to be here with us before we start!"
”Very well,” said Coran and he arranged to have Queen Orla escorted into the castle.
”Isn’t Queen Orla your mother’s sister?” Pidge asked the princess.
”Yes,” replied the princess.
”So how did she become a queen?” asked Pidge. “She’s not married.”
The question pained Allura’s heart a little and Pidge could sense her uneasiness.
”I’m sorry, Princess,” said Pidge hastily trying to get off the subject. “You don’t need to answer that.”
"No, it’s OK, Pidge," said Allura. “It brings back some sad memories. But I’m OK and I’ll explain. You see, King Alfor, my father, was not heir to the throne. He had an older brother I never knew who was king and had married my mother’s sister Orla and she became queen. But my father’s brother died and he had no children. My father who was already married to my mother became king and she became queen. My aunt Orla was still queen and my father out of love gave her a kingdom to rule. Queen Orla accepted the gift, but only because she pledged that her kingdom, although it would rule itself, would always ultimately be under the rule of the ruler of the Castle of Lions.”
Then Queen Orla walked into the room with two personal bodyguards from her kingdom.
”Aunt Orla!” exclaimed Allura, and she rushed over and hugged the queen tightly.
”I’m so happy for you, Allura,” said Orla in calm excitement. Then she broke the hug and looked around the room. “So where is the prince you are to marry?”
Keith stepped forward.
”Captain Keith of the Voltron force,” announced Allura gesturing to Keith.
Queen Orla looked mildly shocked for a moment, but looked at Keith pleasantly. “I wasn’t aware that you were also a prince.”
”I’m not,” stated Keith simply.
”But you will make a good king,” said Queen Orla approvingly. “Welcome to the royal family.”
Keith nodded in thanks and everyone except Keith and including Orla’s bodyguards, looked at the Queen in shock.
"How did you know?” asked Allura. “Are there rumors?”
”No, no rumors. And as for how I know – Princess, would you have it any other way?”
”No,” said Allura and she smiled because of Queen Orla’s amazing understanding.
”Princess, it’s time,” said Coran.
Coran, the princess, and Keith walked out onto the balcony with the others looking on from behind. The people were suddenly silent, and even then weren’t suspecting that Keith was the princess’s choice for marriage. People were sure he was there just as a bodyguard and that the prince the princess was to marry was from another planet and couldn’t make it for the announcement.
“My people,” announced Allura, “I have summoned you here to announce my intent to marry. May I present to you, your future king, Captain Keith of the Voltron force.”
There was quite a stir among the people and shouts of things like “You can’t marry him!” “He won’t be our King!” and “We want a prince!” Keith and Coran showed no emotion.
“My people! Listen! Listen!” shouted Allura, and the people quieted down. She continued, “Keith is better than any prince . . . “ But the people were already yelling again and hardly anyone heard the princess passed the word “Keith.” Allura began to feel great despair welling up inside her and a tear trickled down her right cheek although the stature of her posture remained noble. From behind Keith put his arm across Allura’s shoulders and held her to offer her some comfort.
Suddenly the princess felt Keith tense up. In the next moment she saw why and heard him shout, “We’re under attack! Coran, let the people into the castle! Team we’ve got to get to the lions!” Then Keith left Allura and was taking off down the castle hallways before the rest of the team in the room had even begun to move. Soon Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were also racing out of the room to get to the lions. Allura stayed behind, concerned about being sure that all of the people made it safely into the castle, and they were now screaming and yelling in terror. After Keith was gone, Coran had not yet opened the castle doors and Doom fighters were fast approaching with their laser fire getting closer and closer to the people.
“Coran, let the people in!” ordered Allura frantically.
“Princess, I can’t. They’re too panicked and will trample each other trying to get in.”
The princess was in desperation. She couldn’t bare to have her people slaughtered by Planet Doom before her eyes. But how could she save them from trampling each other to death if they tried to get into the castle? Suddenly Allura went to the edge of the balcony, sat down, and holding down the front of her dress she slipped off before Coran could grab her.
“Princess!” called Coran just missing getting to her in time to stop her. The people saw the princess jump and the people right below her moved out of the way to make room for two large men who had grabbed arms and stood below her to catch her fall. Although she could have easily survived the fall on her own, but would have probably been injured. (Why this is possible) The men caught her perfectly, and no one was hurt. Allura stood up out of the men’s arms. The people were silent in shock. Then everyone heard a lion roar. It was from the black lion awakening from its pedestal just in front of the castle. The lion turned its head toward the people, and Keith’s voice could be heard over its sound system. “Listen to your princess. You must enter the castle calmly.” Then the black lion took off and began destroying Doom fighter ships in an attempt to destroy them before they were close enough that even the falling debris of a destroyed ship would be a threat to the people’s safety.
“Coran, open the doors!” shouted the Princess.
Coran was already in the process of getting the doors open. As the doors were opening, Allura signaled to her people at the front of the mass to begin going in and they hadn’t moved until she signaled them to do so. The princess did not go in. She stood just in front of the doorway to assure herself that her people were remaining calm and would be safe. The people, as they passed, wanted her to go in, and Coran called to her to go in, but she wouldn’t go. Finally, all of Allura’s people had made it into the castle and amazingly no one had been harmed by laser fire or falling debris. As the princess had ushered the last of her people into the castle, she still didn’t go in and paused to look out at the distant sky. There, high in the atmosphere, she saw a huge ship. Her heart throbbed for fear of the robeast that was probably inside of it. She paused longer to watch for what intention the ship was to be used. In moments a hatch opened on the ship releasing a huge form of a robeast. Allura watched in horror as the robeast was enlarged to be even bigger. The princess’s thoughts swam of how to possibly get to her lion.
“Princess, come inside!” called an urgent voice of a man of one of her people. But the princess knew it would be virtually impossible for her to get to Castle Control to get to blue lion by finding her way passed her people crowded into the hallways. Suddenly the princess broke away from the castle doorway and holding up on the sides of her dress, she was dashing across the castle courtyard as fast as she could go.
“Princess! Princess! Come back!” called several of her people.
“Princess!” shrieked Nanny who was now out on the balcony. Coran pulled Nanny inside along with himself when he saw laser fire hit the balcony wall, and he sealed off the entrance to the balcony, but kept the castle doors open hoping Allura would come back. Several of the princess’s people ran out to get her as she left, but they fled back into the castle when laser fire struck just in front of them before they were even 5 feet from the castle. Then red lion flew down in front of the castle entrance, making sure laser fire didn’t make it into the doorway of the castle.
“Coran, close the doors!” called Lance over his intercom. Nothing happened. Lance used the red lion to force the doors closed and then went to destroy more of what little was left of the fighter ships.
Keith had seen the princess make a break from the castle and flew by near her in time to deflect some laser fire from hitting her. He didn’t call out to her because for her safety, he didn’t want to break her concentration from whatever reason she was doing what she was doing. Then he noticed her heading for the lake.
“She’s crazy!” exclaimed Keith aloud to himself. Then the black lion violently jolted. The robeast had grabbed it around the middle and Keith didn't even see it coming. Since he was stuck, he couldn't protect the princess anymore. His last sight of her was seeing laser fire nearly hit her without her seeming to notice. Then she took a flying shallow dive from the shoreline into the lake.
Allura could hardly swim above water with the weight of her soaked full-length dress pulling her down. Her shoes had slipped off easily which helped a little. Then, to waste no more of her energy, she took a deep breath and used the weight of her dress to pull her down in decent through the water, toward the blue lion. Laser fire singed the water high above her into a boil that turned into water vapor, but she was far from danger. Finally, she made it to blue lion and went inside through a hatch under its head, gasping for air as she made it in. Soon she had blue lion out of the water, ready to take on the robeast. She was still in her water soaked dress, and all she had on of her space suit was her helmet and boots.
Black lion was still being held by the robeast. All the fighter ships had been destroyed. The other lions were working on freeing Keith, and then suddenly blue lion was also on the scene. The princess did a water launch into the robeast’s face, then fired ion knives at the arm holding black lion, and finally used the blue claw on the robeast’s hand which weakened its grip enough for black lion to break free.
“Blue lion reporting for duty,” said Allura over the internal lion to lion intercom with visual to all the other lions.
Lance, Hunk, and Pidge began to laugh at the sight of her. She did look pretty ridiculous in her water soaked dress along with her dripping wet hair hanging full out from the bottom of her space helmet.
"What'd you do? Take a shower with your clothes on?" asked Lance sarcastically.
“Guys, it’s not funny at all,” scolded Keith sternly. “She almost got herself killed trying to get to blue lion.”
The guys immediately stopped laughing and genuinely felt guilty.
“Sorry, Princess,” said Lance, Hunk and Pidge sheepishly, one after the other.
They all turned off their visuals to each other to focus on the battle they faced against the robeast. After Keith turned off his visual and intercom, he suddenly snickered at the thought of how Allura looked and then shook his head in disbelief saying “She’s crazy!” aloud to himself.
The Voltron force concentrated their attacks on the robeast as separate lions. Suddenly the robeast snatched green lion by the tail and swinging green lion above the robeast’s head it let it go sending green lion spinning out of control toward the side of a mountain.
“Pidge, pull out of it!” ordered Keith somewhat sternly, as if it would do any good.
“Ahhh!” yelled Pidge. “I can’t tell where I’m at!”
Pidge could tell his lion was heading for the side of a mountain, but with the lion constantly spinning, he couldn’t keep up with the changes in position. A wrong move and he could send himself into the mountain even harder or drill green lion into the ground, possibly destroying the lion. If he didn’t pull out of it, green lion would probably be damaged too badly to continue the battle against the robeast. Without green lion, there was no Voltron. Pidge thought fast and configured the lion’s computers so they would automatically adjust for thrusting the lion up despite the lion spinning in different directions. The lion continued to spin out of control, but now in upward ascent. He missed hitting the mountain.
“Pidge, you’re clear,” said Keith. “Pull your lion out of that spin!”
Pidge purposely flew the lion forward into the forward motion of the spin and the lion immediately pulled itself straight.
“Ready to form Voltron,” announced Keith. “Activate interlocks, dinotherms connected, infracells up, mega thrusters are go.”
“Let’s go Voltron force!” shouted everyone at once.
The lions flew together in their assembly pattern. The robeast couldn’t attack because Voltron can’t be attacked while it’s being formed or it only causes harm to the attacker.
“Form feet and legs,” said Keith as the blue lion became the right foot and leg, and the yellow lion became the left foot and leg. “Form arms and body,” he said as the red lion attached itself to the black lion becoming the right arm, and green lion attached itself to the black lion becoming the left arm. “And I’ll form the head,” concluded Keith as the jaws of the black lion’s head opened and disclosed the robotic head of Voltron inside.
Voltron grappled with the robeast for a short period of time. Then Keith commanded, “Form blazing sword.” After that the sword, held by red lion, sliced the robeast from shoulder to hip. It glowed orange in the slice mark and then exploded.
“Well done team!” complimented Keith.
Then they returned to the castle (of coarse when they did this they first had to separate into lions again and put them back where they’re kept and somehow from there, get back to the castle – the cartoon episodes never show how the lions are put back or how the team gets back to the castle from there). By the time they were back, the people had already been let out of the castle and were chanting “King Keith!” A young woman named Tammy had started it. Once as a child she actually worked with the Voltron force and rode in the green lion with Pidge.
Keith walked out onto the front balcony by himself and the people stopped their chant and cheered. Then they suddenly quieted down into a silence.
“Loyal people of Arus,” announced Keith. “I am your loyal servant, now, and when I am your king!”
The people cheered again and when it died down a little, Tammy yelled “Long live King Keith!” and the people echoed “Long live King Keith!” Then they cheered some more.
When the cheering finally died down again, Keith announced, “Loyal people of Arus, thank you for your presence. Have safe journeys back to your homes.”
Princess Allura, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, Nanny, and Coran were in the room just inside from the balcony (Queen Orla bid the princess goodbye and left at the conclusion of Keith’s speech.) The princess hadn’t changed yet (to Nanny’s dismay) and she was still in her drenched dress and her hair was soaking wet. However, her smile saved her from looking totally pathetic.
“You know, you’re no fun,” commented Lance to Keith. “No matter how nervous you are, you never look it. Your speech was perfect, and no one could know how scared you really were inside.” Then Lance suddenly started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” asked Keith.
“Cause right now I know you’re still feeling terrified!” Lance managed to answer between his laughter. Everyone except Keith smiled at the irony of Lance’s comment. Keith sort of glared at Lance for a while, and then smiled and said “You’re right, I’m still terrified. But it’ll never show.”
Lance stopped laughing and looked somewhat frustrated.
“Except when you’re feeling terrified for the safety of someone else, but it’ll never show when it’s for yourself,” added Allura.
“You know, you’re really no fun!” complained Lance, exasperated.
“That’s all right, Lance,” said Keith while patting Lance on the back. “You make up for it.”
Commentary: Based on the animated series, Queen Orla is Allura's mother's sister. Also, Princess Allura rules over all of Planet Arus. But, how can she rule all of Arus if Queen Orla is also a ruler? A piece of the story above is my stab at explaining how that would be possible. The part about King Alfor having a brother I also made up. Wasn't said in the episodes whether he had a brother or not. Click here to see why I think the jump Allura made is possible. There seems to be several different possible entrances for boarding the lions. Keith's chair in the episodes can be seen rising up into its place, so one of the entrances seems to be under the lion's head.
[Author -- Sheila Bliss, based on the previous creation of Voltron by World Events Productions]
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