[C][AU] No Harm In Camping

"Well, yes," he stressed once more.

"We don't pick the Paladins. The lions choose them. And you are supposed to lead Voltron with the black lion."

He said that with more disbelief than Amr being the Blue Paladin.

"Not exactly my first choice."

Giacinto glanced at Dick. "He was everyone's first choice. She may surprise you given a chance." They knew better than anyone that some people could surprise you.

"The black lion can pick someone else. I am not interested."

"They're just fighting. What are they fighting over?" Tik asked his brother, who was doing a very good impression of a limpet against his side.

Tik couldn't understand any of the conversation up until now. he was thoroughly confused.

Dick purposely didn't look at Giacinto.

"It isn't what you want. Voltron needs you, all of you, to bring down the Galra Empire."

Amr turned from the arguing and gave his brother an apologetic smile. He has been so absorbed in the fighting that he hasn't been filling has brother in.

"[i]From what I can gather; Lucas, Anna and I are Paladins of something called Voltron. But Anna dosen't believe of its existence and needs to go somewhere? I think the resistance she was on about. Lucas wants me to pilot him back to earth, but..." He shrugged. "I don't want to go. Not yet. This is far more interesting than anywhere we have been on earth." He had his brother here. That was all he needed.

Gooseflesh pricked over Fleck's skin when Dick spoke.

The words had created a very strange sort of feeling in him, like they were compelling him to stay.

And from the way Anna quieted down, she had felt the same thing.

Rubbing at his arm, Fleck asked the question that was probably on all the humans minds. "What is Voltron?"

"Idiots. Whatever this is, we lost control over it as soon as we stepped inside that cave. Can't they see that there's no backing out now?" Tik gave no reaction; he hadn't felt the intense feeling the others had.

"You don't know what Voltron is?"

What part of the universe were they from?

Dick kicked himself off the wall where he held himself steady to the controls.

"It is easier to show you."

Amr hummed, now only half listening to his brother. His hands rubbing over his own bicep as he watched Dick bring up a holograph of the lions. They looked just as he remebered from the vision.

"There are five lions, each piloted by a Paladin," began Dick. "Each lion has its own personality and needs a Paladin who reflects them."

His eyes turned to Fleck.

"The yellow lion is kind and caring - but resilient and strong. The red lion relies on instinct. It is fast, but incredibly temperemental."

He looked at Lucas as he mentioned the red lion. Then he turned to Amr.

"The blue lion is the most friendly and excepting - it also excels in the water. The green lion is inquisitive and daring." He looked around the room. "But it seems we don't have their Paladin"

He then turned to Anna, a frown forming on his face again.

"Finally, there is the black lion. They require a Paladin whom is a born leader. Someone that others will follow without hesitation."

The holograms moved. Changing and forming together.

"Once united, they will from Voltron: The most powerful weapon in the universe and the defender of the universe."

Voltron hovered on the centre of the room.

He spoke from memory. Every Altean child knew about Voltron, the lions, and the Paladins.

"No." He'd never heard of the name until today.

Fleck watched with rapt interest as Dick created the hologram and listened intently.

He was humbled when Dick told him what the Lion saw in him. Kind, caring, strong. Yes, he knew he had elements of these things, but for the Lion to pick him out of all the people in the universe to reflect those attributes... He felt more than a little amazed by it.

Anna huffed and raised her chin. Dick didn't believe what he was saying about her. Yet, she'd had every single one of these humans following hr head without question today, and she'd had dozens of others following her lead for years before that. She knew she was a leader.

"If Voltron needs all five lions, how do we find the Paladin for the green lion?"

Lucas couldn't help the little quirk in the corner of his lips. Being able to pilot on of the most powerful weapons in the universe? That was an opportunity he was not going to give up. It sounded crazy, but with everything that happened he was ready to believe the crazy.

[i]"Huh, it seems you are not a Paladin,[i/]" Amr said to Tik. As honnering and amazing as this all sounded, he didn't like his brother being left out.

Dick hesitated at Fleck's question, looking over to Giacinto again.

"I don't know," he admitted.

"Good." He couldn't ride in a car without throwing up. He didn't want to suffer a giant robot lion. Nor all the crazy that came along with it. If it was all about teamwork, he'd be fucked anyway. He couldn't communicate with any of them besides his brother.

"Concentrate on him," Giacinto prompted. "You could differentiate these lot, you can find the green paladin if you concentrate hard enough."

There was hesitation again. He had only just worked out who was who in this room. How was he going to find someone who could be on the other side of the universe?

Still, he tried. Closing his eyes to just focus. Thoughts turning to the green Paladin. The longer he focused the deeper his eyebrows furrowed into a frown.

With a sigh, he gave up.

"I can't stop thinking about the original green Paladin."

"He was a good man." She'd been very close to him at one point. She missed him, as well. She missed all the original paladins. She'd watched them all fall to the Galra.

"Focus." She moved forwards to ground Dick, cupping his cheeks and pressing her forehead to his. "Focus on the new connection in your mind, not on him."

The fate of the universe rode on finding this last Paladin. He had to focus.

He leaned his forehead against hers, eyes sliding close at the familiar touch.

"Right, focus," he uttered under his breath. "Focus, focus, focus."

He pushed his thoughts on the old Paladin away, and focused on the new connection. His eyebrows furrowed into a frown again. It was hard, not having a face to put the Paladin. Especially since he has never done this before.

There was a huff off frustration.

Then his eyes snapped open.

"He is in the Debubian star system."

"Debubian?" Anna echoed. "I know where they are."

The Debubian had been completely abandoned for decades. It made the perfect place for the resistance to set up a permanent base of operations alongside Tamara's less permanent travelling around.

If they were in the Debubian system, then they were part of the resistance.

Dick pulled himself free out of Giacinto's grip to turn his attention to Anna.

"How would you know? It is a busy system. It will take days to check each planet."

From what he remembered from his lessons back on Altea, it was a trading system. The star system also collectively agreed to be neutral in the war between the Alteans and the Galra.

"They whole system's been abandoned for decades. The Galra claimed it about a century ago."

Apart from the occasional bandit and lone traveller, there was only one thing there that was a constant sign of life; their base of operations.

And what was the likelihood of it being a traveller? Not likely at all.

"Oh."

Of course. After ten-thousand years the universe would bound to be different. Everything he would have studied means nothing.

"So, what now?" he asked Giacinto.

They had most of the Paladins here. They now just had to go and find the last. So they just... Up and go?

"Now we retrieve the rest of the lions." Giacinto made a gesture to the control panel.

"Bring up the map, find the co-ordinates, and focus on the lions. Once you'e found them, we'll send the paladins out with the lion we do have and pods While they're off searching for the green Paladin, they can find Green." This time she spoke in Standard for the sake of letting the rest of their entourage in on what was going to happen without having to repeat herself.

"Okay, bring up the map, find the others," he repeated, back on the controls.

Amr laughed with glee as the centre of the room was lit up with the star system. He pushed himself forward to grab onto the pod and get a closer look. This was even more amazing then then the holographic for Voltron.

"How do you do this?" He asked, reaching out. It moved under his hand.

"Don't touch it," Dick scolded. "Can you turn the anti-gravity off, Giacinto?"

"If I must." Two seconds later, without any warning from her at all, they all dropped to the ground.

Anna and Giacinto landed nimbly, but Tik and Fleck went down like a sack of shit.

Flek hissed as his elbow cracked the metal flooring and groaned, holding onto it. "Well, that hurt," he grunted as he pushed himself up, trying to ignore the pain radiating through his arm.

Lucas grunted as he hit the floor. Another bruise to add to the collection.

"You can say that again."

Amr clung on the pod, then slowly slid down it comically. The only one out of the humans that came out unscathed.

Dick landed on two feet, mice still clutched protectively to his chest.

He spotted the one who helped him up earlier hiss in pain. He made his way past the controls and rested his free hand gently on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Fleck rotated his shoulder then grinned. "I'll be fine. Just a little bruise."

He'd dealt with plenty of those in his time.

"Show us these Lions."

Dick smiled and patted him on the shoulder, continuing towards the holograph.

"The black and blue lion are here, in the castle."

He lifted his hand up, the same way Amr reached out to it. His hand hovering as he concentrated. This was easier then locating the Paladin. He knew the lions.

"The yellow one is here, on a balmara rock. And the green one..." His lips quirked up in a smile. "The same star system as where its paladin is. The planet Dalra. And red..."

He stayed silent, hand still in his air. He moved the star system about, pulling it this way and that. The smile of his lips falling.

"It is moving. I believe it is on a ship."

"Then you should should take him to the Bulmera," Giacinto decided, pointing at Amr, then Fleck.

"And you will retrieve both the paladin and Lion using a pod," she ordered Anna.

Then her gaze turned to Lucas. "And we when we're better equipped we'll retrieve Red. We can't risk going out, just the two of us, if the Lion's been detained by anyone. It could be Galra."

Lucas just grunted and Amr nodded enthusiastically.

"Sure thing, but what about Tik?"

He turned to his brother.

"Do you want to go to another alien planet?"

With how ill he looked in the lion earlier, he knew the answer already. But he didn't want him sitting in the corner, forgotten, either.

"I want to go back to a place where everything makes sense." He knew that wasn't going to be happening for a while. So he'd just have to skulk around here and wait for Amr to return.

"You two can leave immediately. Dick, open a wormhole to the Bulmera."

Giacinto turned to Anna. "Come with me and we'll prepare a pod for you."

Amr just offered an apooligetic smile.

"I have a feeling that won't be happening anytime soon.

Dick nodded to Giacinto's orders.

"I will open it as soon as they're in the lion. It is down in the hanger. I can show you where it is."