A/N: I'm glad at how well the first chapter was received. I hope you all like this one as well.

"[Sound]/Talking/Emphasis", "[Sound]/Radio/Video/Robot", 'Thoughts', Flashback,Location, EXPLOSION/ALARM/ENERGY, Door/Computer

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Castle of Lions; Jared's Quarters

BLARE BLARE

Jared's eyes shot open at the alarm, and Allura's voice coming through the intercom.

"Everybody up! Zarkon's attacking!" Jared jumped out of his bed, grabbing the pants of his Paladin armor, putting them on, and running out the door. "The Castle's about to be destroyed! Go, go, go! We need Voltron now!"

As he ran into the hallway, Jared saw Shiro and Keith join him, the trio all running towards the Control Room.

"Hurry, we can't survive much longer!" As Allura continued, Shiro turned to his teammates.

"Are you guys ok?" He asked. Keith nodded, as Jared spoke up.

"Yeah," As he ran, Jared realized something. "In fact, I haven't felt any impacts at all."

Jared's suspicions were proved correct, when Coran's voice came on.

"Oh, no! Allura is dead! Aw, it's horrible! Her head fell off" Jared's eye twitched as they group arrived at the door to the Control Room, with Pidge, Hunk, and the Galran drone Pidge had hacked, named Rover, joining them.

Swish

The five Paladins walked in, as Coran continued his, rant.

"Wait, what? Her severed head is speaking to me. What is it Allura's head? What are your final words?" He actually had tears in his eyes as Allura, seeing the Paladins, tried to get her caretakers attention.

"Coran?"

"Oh yes, Princess, I'm listening," Allura slumped over at Coran's, admirable, commitment.

"It's over," She said. Coran didn't stop, and Jared's eye kept twitching.

"Oh I know! [Groan] If only Voltron had been formed," He finally stopped when Jared shot an arrow at the speaker in Coran's hand, finally catching the Altean's attention. "Oh, time!"

Coran stood up, throwing away the speaker.

"I'm guessing this isn't an actual attack," At Shiro's statement, Allura glared at the team.

"And it's a good thing it wasn't, because it took you…Coran?" She turned to her caretaker.

"75°," Everyone stared at him for a moment, before Coran realized his mistake. "Oh, sorry, no, this is a meat thermometer."

"[Sigh] However long it was, it was too long. You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon," The Princess looked over the team. "Look at you! Only Shiro is fully in uniform. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, where are your Bayards? And where is Lance?"

Swish

At the sound of door opening, everyone looked to see Lance walking out, looking incredibly well rested. Jared glared in jealousy as the Blue Paladin walked in.

"[Yawn] Good morning everybody. What's going on?" He asked. He flinched a little bit at the severity of Jared's glare, before the White Paladin looked over at Allura as she spoke up.

"Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order. We had to run a test on the alarms and we decided to test you as well," She glared again, putting her arms behind her back. "Guess which one failed."

"Hey!" Everyone turned to Hunk as he joined in. "[Yawn] You got to sleep for 10,000 years, man," Hunk then began listing off everything that happened. "Monday night I was on Earth; now I've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird Castle…That's a lot to process in, uh…I don't know, what day is today?"

"The day I get some more sleep," Jared muttered. He began to walk away until Shiro spoke up.

"Hang on Jared, we need to get some more training done, before the day is out," Said the Black Paladin. Jared grumbled, being unable to refute the logic of Shiro's order. Then Allura joined in.

"You must understand the stakes of our mission," She brought up the universal hologram. "Over the last 10,000 years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations," Soon, almost the entire hologram was covered in orange lights. "So we have to assume, that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe. Earth is here," Allura rotated the hologram to show the human's home. "An attack on your planet; is inevitable."

"Oh, no," Hunk muttered. Jared looked down, as he couldn't help but feel, isolated, in this respect, especially considering what he had learned from Coran.

"So, what happened on Sendak's ship?" Coran asked. He, Jared, and Shiro were in the med bay, as Jared explained.

"I was holding on to a console in the hangar, keeping me and Keith in the ship, when I suddenly felt this, pain; radiate through my heart," Jared put his hand over his heart, while Coran had a thoughtful look on his face, before looking up at Jared.

"Why don't I take a blood sample," He said, making the head and core of Voltron turn to him.

"It'll let me see if there's anything in your body that shouldn't be there."

Jared nodded after a moment, and raised his sleeve, allowing Coran to take a blood sample, his silver blood filling the vile. As they waited, Shiro turned to the White Paladin.

"Has this happened any other times?" He asked, Jared shaking his head in the negative.

"No. Just when I looked up at Red," Replied Jared.

Beep

"Ah, that must be the results," Said Coran. The Altean turned to the computer, looking through the information, before he stopped. "So, it seems like you have some sort of microscopic growth in your bloodstream. Thankfully, they only seem to become a problem if your heart rate reaches high levels. Let's see if we can find what your species is, so we can cure that…" Coran stopped, his eyes widening as he looked at another piece of information. The pause caused Shiro and Jared to look at each other in worry.

"Is; something wrong, Coran?" Asked Shiro.

"You're a Celestian…" Muttered the Altean. Jared raised an eyebrow.

"A Celestian? Doesn't that sound a little, pretentious?" He asked. Coran turned to him.

"It was well deserved. The few Celestians that I've met were capable of controlling Quintessence. King Alfor even used their abilities as the basis for the Voltron Lions," He said. Jared and Shiro were in shock at that revelation, with Jared looking at his hand.

"Incredible," He muttered. Closing his fist, the White Paladin looked up Coran. "So, how do we get rid of that growth in my blood? Is there any safe way?"

"I'm not sure if we should," Said Coran. Shiro looked at him in shock.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Asked the Black Paladin. Coran turned to him.

"It's just, Celestians are an immensely, reclusive, and secretive species. I can name on one hand the amount of times I've met one. I don't know if this growth is what allows them to control Quintessence, or if it serves some other function. With the amount of unknowns, I think we should leave it as is."

Shiro sighed, before turning to Jared.

"What do you want to do Jared? This is your body after all," At Shiro's question, Jared put his hands in front of him, thinking on the possibilities, before looking up at the two adults.

"I say for now, we leave them in. Coran's right, too much of this is unknown. We can't take the risk that the growth is an essential part of my body, and by removing it, we lose one of the six people in the universe capable of piloting a Voltron Lion," He smirked slightly. "Besides, manipulating Quintessence sounds like it could be useful."

"The Princess is right," Jared was taken out of his memory by Shiro's voice. "Let's get to our Lions, and start training."

"Wait," Everyone looked at Pidge as she spoke up. "But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship."

"Ah, negative Number Six," Coran spoke up, measuring Pidge from the floor to her hair. "I have you ranked by height, ok?" Pidge slightly glared at Coran, as he continued. "The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow."

"That's right," Said Allura. "Now get to your Lions."

At that, the arms and legs of Voltron moved to separate elevators, while Jared and Shiro moved to a pair of platforms at the front and back of the room. The two platforms lowered, with Jared moving into a tunnel with silver lights glowing all the way down. Through a hatch in the tunnel, Jared was able to get the rest of his Armor, and got it on. Once the platform had stopped moving, Jared saw a zip-line, leading down an angled corridor, with more silver lights.

Grabbing onto the zip-line, Jared moved down the corridor, until another tunnel came into view. He let go of the zip-line, and fell down the tunnel, until he reached the bottom, and landed in his Speeder. The White Speeder was very streamlined, with a pair of circular wings allowing it more maneuverability. Jared grabbed the controls, and flew forward, into yet another elevator, this one going up. Once it finished, the elevator led him to White, and Jared flew forward, with some form of energy pulling the Speeder towards its Lion. The seat lifted out the Speeder, and moved into the cockpit, Jared taking hold of the Lions controls.

Arus; Field outside the Castle of Lions

Jared sat in his cockpit with four of the five remaining Lions, waiting for Hunk to arrive. Soon, Lance spoke up.

"Should, someone go in after him?" He asked. The question was made moot, when Hunk flew towards them.

"Hey, sorry everybody," The Yellow Lion landed beside Green, as Hunk continued. "Seriously though, can't they park these things like a little closer to the bridge?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Replied Jared. Then Shiro spoke up.

"Alright guys, let's just fly in tight formation until we're totally in sink," As he finished, Allura came on screen.

"Feel the bond with your Lions, and your fellow Pilots, until five become one unit, and you form Voltron,"

"Yeah!" With that advice, the six Paladins flew their Lions into the sky, resuming the same positions that they had yesterday,

"Yeah!" Everyone tried to focus on Voltron as they flew, attempting to make their Lions combine once again.

"Yeah!" It was taking a little longer than last time, but no one had given up yet.

"...Yay," At this point everyone was getting a little annoyed with their lack of success. They flew around once more.

"…Whoo…Am I the only one still pretending to be excited?" Hunk asked.

"[Groan]" Replied Jared.

"Clearly this isn't working. Let's set down for a little bit," Joined Shiro. As the team followed Shiro's order, Keith spoke up.

"Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up," He said. Jared raised an eyebrow.

"What exactly do you mean?" Asked the White Paladin.

"I mean let's try literally building Voltron, like stacking on top of each other," He replied. Lance joined in.

"Like a cheerleader pyramid?" He asked, incredulously. Keith didn't like his suggestion being shot down.

"You got a better idea?" He asked, earning a small glare from the Blue Paladin. Jared spoke up.

"Wait, what's a cheerleader pyramid?" He wondered. Then Shiro joined in.

"It's worth a try," As everyone got into position, Jared looked on in confusion.

"…Is no one going to tell me what a cheerleader is?"

A few minutes later, after being told what they were doing, Jared joined the other Paladins, in stacking atop each other. Green and Blue were on the ground, with Red and White atop them. Black landed above Red and White, however, Hunk unfortunately didn't know where to go, and landed Yellow on top of Black, earning the Yellow Paladin a slight glare from his fellow Pilots.

"Hunk, what are you doing?" Asked Shiro, looking more annoyed than anything else.

"What do you mean?" At Hunks response, Jared sighed.

"[Sigh] You're supposed to be the leg, big guy, down there," Replied Jared, pointing down to beside Blue, where Green was currently parked.

"What? No. No, no, no. I'm pretty sure that when we did it last time I was the head, right?" Hunk's 'memory', caused Jared to roll his eyes as Lance joined in.

"You yelled 'I'm a leg!'" He yelled.

"Yeah, I was yelling a lot of things," Said Hunk, causing Jared to sigh at the, imaginative, response.

"Shiro's, the head," Joined Keith.

"…All the time?" Hunk's voice was almost pleading.

"Let's just try it my way for now," Said Shiro. Hunk finally relented.

"Ok, but next time I call head," Hunks, request, made Jared look at him in a slightly annoyed scowl.

Soon enough, the Paladins had their Lions in the correct position, with Blue and Yellow on the ground, and White above them. Red and Green were perched with one leg each on White, and the other on Blue and Yellow, respectively.

"Ok, arms, and legs, and I'll form the head," Shiro lowered Black atop Red and Green, causing White to groan slightly from the massive weight. "Feel the bonds with your Lions, now channel your energy into forming Voltron."

Jared closed his eyes, and he could tell by the silence that the others had done the same.

"Focus, focus," At Shiro's voice, Jared took a few calming breaths, and tried to remember the feeling he had last time. A few minutes later, Shiro spoke up again. "…Is everyone bonding and focusing?"

"Why was this so much easier before," Said Lance, causing everyone else to sigh.

"[Sigh] Let's take a break," Joined Shiro. As everyone landed on the ground, Allura's voice came through.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help," Said the Princess. Jared raised an eyebrow.

"How so?" He asked. Allura smiled. For some reason, it unnerved Jared slightly.

"Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron, until you were in the heat of battle,"

"Yeah,"

"I'm listening,"

"You're right,"

"Yeah, I guess," As everyone voiced their confirmations, Jared's unnerved feeling rose.

"…Where are you going with this?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Perfect. Because, I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle's defenses," She pressed some buttons, before turning back to the team with a smile. "This should help."

"Wait, what?" Even at Jared's question, Allura's smile never dropped.

BWOOM

The team looked up at the Castle, to see the particle barrier had been activated, and lasers had begun to fire out. The blasts hit the ground near the Lions, causing the Paladins to run around the field.

"Allura, what are you doing!?" Yelled Keith, trying not to be hit by the endless storm of lasers.

"Running a diagnostic test on the Castle's defenses, and inspiring you," Allura's voice was filled with far too much joy as she continued. "I believe in you Paladins. Let fear be your guide; form Voltron!"

"Oh forget this!" As Jared flew into the air, he looked at Blue when he heard Lance's voice, seeing the Lion turn around. "I'm heading back to the Castle!"

"Lance, wait!" Jared's warning came too late, as Lance slammed into the particle barrier, sending the Blue Lion and his Paladin crashing to the ground.

"Please, stop, please! Have mercy on us!" At Hunk's pleading, Allura glared.

"You think Zarkon is going to have mercy on you? He's probably on his way now to destroy us all," She turned around, and before her image disappeared, Jared heard a robotic female voice speak up.

"Auto-Lock-On, engaged," Jared paled slightly when he heard that.

"Oh, no,"

Castle of Lions; Rec Room

All six Paladins were arranged around the Rec Room, a few hours after escaping Allura's 'inspiration'.

Swish

"Are we at full power in condenser number five yet?" Allura and Coran walked through the door, the Princess earning a glare from Jared, as he lay against the couch.

"No. Still just 84%," Coran replied, looking at the scanner in his hand. Then Allura realized the Paladins were in the room, and she smiled.

"You did it!" Everyone looked up at her. "You formed Voltron."

"No," Said Keith. "The shooting stopped and the particle barrier shut down so we just flew in," He shrugged, as Allura's eye twitched.

"…What?"

"Oh, right," Coran spoke up, looking slightly nervous. "Sorry, Princess. I had to turn off the Castle defenses to test the fire suppressors."

Swish

Before Allura could turn to her caretaker, Shiro walked in the room.

"What are you guys doing in here, we're not taking a break," At that moment, Jared saw another figure blur in over top Shiro, and a small pain in his head. Before he could really process what he had seen, Allura spoke up.

"Shiro's right, you should be training."

"[Groan] We've been training," Said Hunk. "When are we going back to Earth?"

"I'm not going back until I find my family," Joined Pidge, causing Jared to look at her. Shiro spoke up next.

"Guys," Everyone turned to the Black Paladin. "There won't be an Earth if we don't figure out how to fight Zarkon."

"How are we going to fight?" Asked Lance, sitting up. "We can't even figure out how to form Voltron."

"Well I'm not surprised," Said Coran, putting the scanner back in his pocket. "You know, the original Paladins fought hundreds of battles together, side by side. They were like a pack of yalmors, linked at the ears."

"Wow…Yeah that's definitely not us," Lance fell back down on the couch after he spoke, causing Jared to chuckle as Coran continued.

"During the last attack, your survival instincts forced you to work as a team, but that will only get you so far. You'll have to become a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and then beating Zarkon next time," His face brightened up a little with an idea. "You should try working out on the training deck."

"…There's a training deck?" Asked Hunk.

Training Arena

"This place is full of surprises," Muttered Jared, looking around the massive room. The six Paladins were arranged in a circle in the center, awaiting Coran's instructions

"[Ahem] Two, two, one two," Coran's voice came through the speakers, causing the Paladins to become more alert. "Ok, listen up guys. The Paladin Code demands that you put your team members' safety, above your own," He paused. "A swarm of drones is about to attack."

Jared readied himself as the aforementioned drones came out of the walls.

"It's up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team."

Everyone got in position, activating the shields on their arms.

"Wait, wait, wait," Hunk said, slightly overwhelmed by the suddenness of the situation. "What's going on?" He turned to his arm, activating his own shield. "[Gasps] Whoa. Did you guys get one of these?"

"Get ready," Said Shiro. As soon as he did, one of the drones fired at Hunk, with the Yellow Paladin ducking under, allowing Pidge to get hit. As soon she was, the floor beneath her opened up, and the Green Paladin fell down, to who knows where. Jared turned to Hunk, blocking laser fire.

"Hunk, don't dodge the blasts, we need to-" Jared was interrupted by Hunk getting hit by a laser himself, and being sent into the basement. "…block."

"Protect your teammates," Said Coran, as the remaining Paladins got closer, back to back. "Or no one will be there to protect you."

All four Paladins huddled together, watching each other's backs, as Coran spoke up once more.

"Time to increase intensity," With that the drones became blurs, forcing the Paladins to rely more on their instincts than their eyes. As they survived the onslaught, Lance spoke up.

"You keeping up over there Keith?" He asked. Keith wasn't interested.

"Just concentrate on keeping me safe," Replied the Red Paladin. Lance looked back at him.

"[Scoffs] Me? I own this drill," As he spoke, Lance didn't notice the drones lower down. "You're the one who needs to concentrate."

Lance's distraction forced him to panic as a drone fired at his legs, dodging instead of blocking; and letting Keith get hit, sending him down into the floor. Lance followed soon after, leaving only Shiro and Jared remaining. The pair did well enough, until Jared felt something, change, in the world. The distraction caused Jared to make a small misstep, allowing one of the drones to hit him, and send him into the ground. A few seconds after he fell, he landed in another room, where the rest of the Paladins were. Lance and Keith were arguing, as usual, while Pidge and Hunk sat around. As Jared stood up, Shiro fell into the room as well, yet he managed to land on his feet.

"…Well you ruined my footing!" Lance yelled. Keith rolled his eyes.

"We were on opposite sides of the room, how could I do that?" He asked. Before Lance could retort, Jared spoke up.

"Stop," He said. Everyone turned to him, surprised at the forcefulness of his voice. "It's no one's fault we failed, because it's everyone's fault."

"But-" Keith tried to speak up, but Jared wouldn't let him.

"We're a team. That means, whether we win or lose, it's on all of us. There is no placing blame," As Jared finished, everyone looked down slightly, trying to consider what he said. After a moment, he turned to the door. "Come on, let's keep training."

A few minutes later, everyone was back in the main room, and Coran turned to them.

"Oh good, you're back. Now, the next exercise; is a maze. The surprise is, you won't know who you'll be paired with," He said. Following that, Coran split the Paladins into groups of two, with Keith, Hunk, and Shiro in one, and Jared, Pidge, and Lance in the other. The two groups went into separate rooms, and then Coran called Lance out. As they waited, Jared turned to Pidge.

"What's your real name?" He asked. Pidge looked up at the White Paladin in shock, and almost jumped out of her seat.

"W-what are you talking about, it's-" Before Pidge could finish her scrambled sentence, Jared spoke up.

"Either your parents didn't do a good job naming you, or Pidge Holt is not your real name," He said. Pidge stopped, and resigned herself to Jared's questions.

"…Katie," She said. Jared nodded.

"Ok," He said, and he slipped into silence. Pidge was shocked at how easily he was letting this go.

"Wait, that's it?" She asked. Jared looked to her, and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You just find out that I lied to you about who I was, and you don't even care?"

"Do you plan on betraying us?" Jared replied. Pidge glared.

"No, why would you even ask that?" She said. Jared shrugged.

"Then outside of curiosity, I don't really care what your name is. It doesn't make you who you are, your actions and reasoning does," He reasoned. Pidge looked at him in shock.

"…You're weird," She said. Jared actually laughed at that.

"Damn right," He said.

"Jared, could you come up please?" At Coran's voice, Jared started to leave the room, but before he could, Pidge stopped him.

"Wait," At the Green Paladin's voice, Jared turned around, and Pidge was looking down. "Could you, still call me Pidge?"

Jared smiled.

"Sure."

Training Room

Jared walked into the center of the room; before he saw a large amount of massive energy walls surround him.

'Well, Coran did say this was a maze,' He thought. "Hey Coran, how am I supposed to get out of here?"

"Uh, take um, four-no-three, three steps, forward," At Hunks incredibly nervous voice, Jared learned the purpose of the exercise. Following Hunks order, Jared took three steps forward, got a slight shock, and bit back a grunt. "Sorry!"

"It's ok," Said Jared. They tried a few more times, Jared getting shocked on both attempts. He could hear Hunk's constant panic, so he decided to step in. "Hunk!

"Y-yes?" He replied, meekly.

"Think of this as a recipe," He said. Hunk paused, allowing Jared to continue. "Think of the maze as a recipe, and each direction you give me, will help the food cook."

"…Are you sure?" Hunk asked. Jared sighed.

"I trust you," He said, with the most conviction he could, looking up at the control room. He could hear Hunk take a few calming breaths, before he started to give more instructions. This time, the two made it through the maze almost without incident, with Jared only getting shocked once more at a particularly confusing part of the maze. "Well done Hunk."

"Thanks."

Skies above Arus

"You'll never be able to form Voltron, unless each of you has a strong bond with his Lion," The Paladins were back in the sky, with Coran trying another training exercise.

"No problem," Said Lance. "Me and Blue are best buds for life, for real,"

"How?" Jared asked, considering they had only met less than two days ago. His question went unanswered, as Coran continued.

"Perfect. Then you won't have any issues with this exercise," That caused Jared to raise an eyebrow. "Everyone; put your Lion's into a nosedive!"

Everyone did, as he had asked, with Red seeming to pull ahead slightly.

"This is an expert-level drill that you really shouldn't attempt until you've been flying for years. But, we're in a bit of a rush, so, here we go," Coran brought up a screen, and pressed the button. "Activating training helmets."

Suddenly, Jared's sight was blocked completely, causing his eyes to widen in shock. Lance was far more vocal.

"[Screams] Coran, what's happening? I can't see!" Yelled the Blue Paladin.

"You must learn to see through your Lions eyes," Coran's voice was annoyingly calm while they plummeted towards the ground. "The goal is to pull up right before you crash into the ground. Feel what the Lion feels."

The team was quiet for a few seconds, before Hunk spoke up.

"[Whimper] Mine feels scared," Even without his sight, Jared could tell that Hunk had pulled up and away. Deciding to focus on his own Lion, Jared closed his eyes, and tried to connect with White more than before. This went on for a while, before Jared felt, something, try to tug at his mind. Just like yesterday, he let the tug take over, and he saw a, white light in front of him and he was almost able to see the ground and-

PAIN

Jared's eyes shot open, feeling a shocking pain radiate through him, and he slammed the controls, smashing into the ground on White's paws. He took a moment to catch his breath, and put his hand on his chest.

"Well done Jared, you almost had it," Despite Coran's praise, Jared wasn't sure how to feel at the moment. Something had stopped him from bonding with White, and he didn't know what it was.

'[Growl]' At White's mental growl, Jared smiled.

"Thanks girl,"

Castle of Lions; Training Deck

"The most important part of Paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing; Voltron," Once again, the group was arranged in a circle, with telepathic projectors on their heads. "Everything else has to fade away. This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron. So relax, and open your minds. No walls, no secrets between Paladins"

Everyone closed their eyes, and began to focus in on themselves. Keith thought of his home, Lance; his family, Shiro; the Galaxy Garrison, Hunk; food, and Jared instantly thought of the White Lion. The only person whose thoughts had yet to be cleared, were Pidge's.

"Come on everyone, clear everything, now focus on, forming your Lion," Everyone's thoughts, bar Pidge, turned into their respective Lion. "Bring your Lions together, and form Voltron."

They moved them forward, with the Lions forming into the components of Voltron.

"Keep your minds open, work together, good!" Everyone waited for Pidge, attempting to keep their concentration for as long as possible. "Keep focusing. Only one to go!"

At this point, Keith spoke up.

"Pidge, stop thinking of your girlfriend," The Red Paladins voice broke everyone out of the moment, ending the hologram.

"I wasn't!" Countered Pidge, before looking at Hunk. "Hunk was rooting around in my head."

"I-I thought we were open," Said Hunk. "You can look in my head hole."

Before Jared could classify the weirdness of that statement, Coran interrupted.

Everyone has to be able to look in everyone's head holes," He said. You could actually see him throw his arms up through the window. "Clear your minds!"

Taking a breath, everyone attempted the exercise once again. This time, everyone immediately formed their own Lion.

"Good," Said Coran. The team brought the holograms together, and Coran continued. "Almost there. Now form Voltron."

Every Lion came together, yet, when Pidge brought the Green Lion in, it was only temporary, as the hologram broke up once again.

"Pidge!" Lance's annoyed call made Pidge lose her cool, and slam the projector on the ground.

"I'm done with this!" She yelled. "Look, I don't like everyone grubbing around in my head."

"Come on, Pidge." Said Shiro. "We're starting to get the hang of this."

Pidge looked down.

"I'm just…I'm just tired, ok?" She replied. Shiro looked contemplative for a moment.

"Ok," He then looked around at the team. "Let's take a break."

Then team relaxed around the room, as Coran came down and handed every member water packs.

"You have been working hard," Said the Altean. "Maybe it's time to relax a little."

Swish

"What are you doing lying around," Everyone looked up at Allura as she walked in the room. "You're supposed to be training!"

"Just resting a bit," Replied Coran, shrugging. "You know you can't push too hard."

"What do you mean, 'can't push too hard'," Countered Allura. Jared narrowed his eyes at her. "Get up you lazy lumps! It's time you faced the Gladiator."

After a few minutes of grumbling, everyone got in position, and prepared to fight.

"In order to face the Gladiator, six Paladins must fight as one," Said Coran, once again watching from the top floor. Jared activated his Bayard, and looked around, wondering where the Gladiator would come from.

Swish

Jared looked up, hearing a door open from the roof. Once he did, he saw an android drop down, and land in a crouch. Jared aimed his Bayard at the android, as it ran towards Hunk. The Yellow Paladin fired his own Bayard, but the Gladiator dodged, and the energy blasts hit Jared in the chest, sending him flying back, and Keith was forced to use his shield to avoid the same fate. As Jared recovered, he saw that the Gladiator had already taken down Hunk, electrocuting him with its staff. Pidge then charged it, attempting a swing that the android deflected. As it kept trying to strike Pidge, Jared lined up a shot, and fired. Unfortunately, the Gladiator dodged, and Pidge was hit by the arrow, which turned into a giant net. The force of the hit sent the Green Paladin flying, bouncing off of Hunk's belly.

Then, Lance started firing, but his Bayard's energy bolts were easily deflected, and the Gladiator advanced on him, pushing Lance back. Eventually, the Blue Paladin had his weapon knocked from his hand, and as Keith prepared to hit it, the Gladiator was able to turn around and pre-emptively strike, before catching Lance in the gut, spinning him around, and tossing him into Keith, sending them both into the ground. Jared ran towards the Gladiator as it set its sights on Shiro, hoping the two would be able to tag team it. However, as the Gladiator charged, Shiro froze up, leaving Jared to have to deflect its strike, and kick the android away. The White Paladin turned to his teammate.

"Shiro, what's wrong?" He asked. When he looked at Shiro's eyes, the Black Paladin had a very far off look. "Shir-[Oof]!"

Jared's query was interrupted when the Gladiator hit him in the gut, sending him flying. Rolling in order to lessen the impact, Jared looked up when he stopped. Only to immediately be forced to dodge another strike from the android. Managing to get to his feet, Jared began using his Bayard to catch and redirect the Gladiators staff. Suddenly, the Gladiator dropped down, and Jared saw Shiro flying at him.

"Quiz-" Jared's curse was broken off by Shiro slamming into him, sending them both to the ground. "Ow…"

Suddenly, the android was deactivated, and Jared saw Allura walking up to them.

"That combat simulator was set at a level fit for an Altean child!" She said, glaring at them. "You're not even close to working as a team, let alone ready to face Zarkon."

As she walked away, Jared glared at her slightly.

Dining Room

"Ahoy young Paladins!" As everyone walked into the room, they saw Coran had set out plates for everyone. As everyone sat down, Coran continued. "I've whipped up a big batch of focusing food. After this meal, you'll be forming Voltron six times a movement, and twice on the astral conflux."

"Smells great, Coran, thanks," Said Shiro, Jared, who was next to him, nodding as well. Once everyone had grabbed their cutlery, Jared moved to take a bite, before Coran revealed a remote, and shackles extended from the chairs, binding everyone's hands to the person next to them, Pidge and Jared, however, had one hand remain stuck to their chair, their right and left, respectively.

"Hold the phone!" Lance protested, looking at Coran.

"I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you're still struggling to work as a team," Coran then smiled. "So welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day."

Hunk tried to move his arms, causing Lance to move as well, but Shiro's robotic arm was barely moved.

"Coran," Said the Yellow Paladin. "I want you to think about what you're doing."

"Oh, this one's a classic," The older Altean was unperturbed. "You get to feed each other, like a pack of yalmors!"

"I hate you right now," Said Jared, glaring annoyingly at Coran. Then, Allura walked in.

"I see Coran has started you last exercise," She said. "Hopefully this will teach you how to actually work together."

As Allura sat down, Jared glared at her once more. She was really starting to annoy him. Everyone tried to feed themselves; but it was taking a while, with Jared and Shiro starting to get a system in place.

"Ow!"

"Sorry," Hunk and Lance weren't getting it down very well, with Lance's hand going in Hunk's mouth on occasion. Then, Hunk reached forward, pulling Lance along, which, in turn, pulled Keith's hand into Lance's food. The Blue Paladin glared at Keith. "Oh, nice, you defiled my food goo!"

"It's your fault!" Replied Keith. "This is ridiculous," As food went flying, Allura growled.

"Do Earthlings ever stop complaining?" She muttered, but not low enough for Jared and Shiro to miss it.

"Can't you just give us a break?" He said. "Everyone's been working really hard today."

"Yeah!" Everyone turned to Keith, at his outburst. "We're not some prisoners for you to toy with, like, like…"

"Like a bunch of toy prisoners!" Joined Lance.

"Yes! Thank you, Lance!" Keith thanked the Blue Paladin, while Coran spoke up.

"You do not yell at the Princess!" He admonished. Pidge then joined in.

"Oh the Princess of what?!" She said.

"Exactly!" Joined Jared. "We're the only ones here, and she is certainly no 'Princess' of ours."

SPLAT

Jared's comment had earned him a glob of goo in the face, with everyone staring shocked at both him, and Allura. Then, Keith spoke up.

"Go loose Pidge!" The Red Paladin then grabbed a plate, and swung it at Allura, but Coran was able to intercept the strike, before he flung a ladle full of goo at the entire team, covering everyone in food. Shaking his head of goo, Hunk spoke up.

"Oh, it's on, now," With that, he stuck his face in his plate, gobbled up food, looked back up, and pushed his cheeks in, sending it flying at the two Alteans, covering them food themselves. Groaning, the two grabbed more plates and spatulas, and the first intergalactic food fight began. Many weapons were used; with Keith getting hold of a ladle himself at one point. By the end, everyone was covered from head to toe in miscellaneous green goo. After Allura sat down in a chair, everyone relaxed, before all the Paladins began laughing together.

"Enough!" Everyone looked at Allura when she yelled. "Do you see what you're doing?"

She looked up, and smiled.

"You're finally working together as one!" Jared looked down, realizing what she was saying, as Keith spoke up.

"Hey, she's right," He said. Lance joined in as well.

"I actually don't hate you right now," He replied, gesturing to the Red Paladin.

"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Asked Hunk. Assuming what it was, Shiro spoke up.

"Let's go form Voltron!"

"Yeah!" Everyone joined in, before Hunk spoke up again.

"Actually I was thinking dessert, but, yeah! Let's do it!" Unfortunately, the Yellow Paladin leaned back too far, causing him to fall backwards. Since everyone was still connected by the wrist, they all fell down.

"Oh, sorry, I'll turn those off," Said Coran, grabbing the same remote he had used to tie the team together.

Main Control Room

After a brief shower, to clean off all the food, the six Paladins were back in the same positions that they had started the day in, with the trip down to their Lions feeling slightly more, natural, this time. Once he had reached his Lion, Jared saw Shiro come up on screen.

"Everyone ready to do this?" He asked. Jared nodded, smiling.

"Definitely," Everyone called out in the affirmative themselves.

"Roger that!"

"It's on!"

"Yes, sir!"

"I was born ready!"

"Then let's go," Said Shiro.

Just like last time, the Paladins were transferred into some sort of pocket dimension, with the Lions mechanically shaping into the different components of Voltron. This time however, Jared noticed that, when the transformation was complete, he was gaining info from the other Lions as well, almost like a sort of radar.

"That should be useful," He muttered. When he looked down, he was shocked at the sheer, size, of Voltron. He could barely see Coran and Allura, despite zooming in on them. "Unbelievable."

Castle of Lions; Rec Room

"Man that was cool!" Jared chuckled at Lance's excitement, the team sitting in various sections of the couch. "I'm so charged up; I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight."

"Not me," Joined Keith. "When my head hits the pillow, I'm going to be lights out. What about you, Jared?"

The White Paladin shrugged.

"I'll probably do the same thing I do every night," He said. Lance raised an eyebrow.

"Which is…" He trailed off. Jared just looked at the Blue Paladin with a secretive smile. Lance glared. Before he could speak up, however, Hunk joined in.

"I just want you to know, that I realized when we were in Voltron, we're brothers, man," The Yellow Paladin pulled Lance, Jared and Keith into a massive bear hug, as he continued. "You know? No secrets, no barriers, no nothing. Brothers, all the way. I love you guys."

"G-Forces mess with you head a little bit?" Asked Keith.

"Y-Yeah, maybe a little, I don't know. It's been a tough few days," Replied Hunk.

"Hunk? I can't really breathe right now," Groaned Jared.

"Oh! Sorry," With that the Yellow Paladin released the bear hug, allowing Jared to catch his breath. The rest of the team began to separate towards their own quarters, before Shiro turned to their only female member.

"Going to bed Pidge?" He asked. The Green Paladin shook her head.

"In a minute," She replied. Shiro smiled.

"Good work today," He said. "We're really coming together." As Shiro left, Jared stood back up, and looked at Pidge, seeing her take out a photo.

"Is that you and your brother?" He asked. She nodded. He smiled. "I'm sure we'll find him, and your father. One way or another."

"Thanks Jared," Said Pidge. Giving a half hearted wave, Jared went to his own quarters, but as he reached the door, he felt some kind of, pulse, flow through the air. It felt similar to what he felt in the drone training session. Frowning, he put it in the back of his mind.

'Something is coming,' He thought. 'But what, and, will we be strong enough to stop it.'

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A/N: By the Ancients, this took a while. I wanted to get this out before Season 3, but instead, I barely got it out before Season 4. For anyone who is wondering how Jared's species will work into things, don't worry. I promise to explain it in later chapters. Now, I need to actually work on my Korra one.

Shiro's Song Choice: If I Can Fly.