The New Prince-A Voltron Fanfiction

In order to have an enemy, one must be somebody. One must be a force before he can be resisted by another force. A malicious enemy is better than a clumsy friend. Anne Sophie Swetchine

The Beginning

"Evasive maneuvers, evasive maneuvers!" Keith yelled as he lifted off from the ground where the robeast slammed him minutes earlier.

"Are you all right?" He heard Allura from the comm.

"I'm fine, Princess. Just be careful, this one has it in for you."

"I think this tin can has it in for you, Commander!" Lance answered, firing a couple of proton missiles at the gigantic metal beast.

The beast, looking like a Roman gladiator from ancient Earth times, wore the face of a tiger and wings of an eagle.

Lotor decided to attack at dawn this time, even before the sun rose. Keith knew the Prince's purpose. A surprise attack, he thought; when they would least expect it and where they would be most vulnerable. It's a careless attack, though, he thought, as he positioned himself closer to the beast and noticed it turning toward Blue.

"Negative, it's going after the Princess!" Keith shouted back almost hitting the beast's whip as it flew toward him. "We need to form Voltron, now!"

Upon hearing his words, all five lions flew up and commenced the sequence to form Voltron. Seconds later, Voltron slammed the robeast from the back causing it to fall forward, releasing the whip from its hand.

"Pidge, run the scan, quick!" Keith commanded to his youngest crewmember as he studied the beast and looked for weak points.

"I'm running it," Pidge replied quickly, not bothering to meet the Commander's eyes on his screen.

"Never mind." Keith fired back. "Look, between its upper torso, there's flesh."

"How?" Hunk asked immediately. "That thing is full of metal."

"Negative, it's just covered with metal on the surface. Below, it's just flesh. We can slice it." Keith smiled at the discovery.

"Well, we better do it now. That thing is coming right at us!" Lance yelled as he saw the beast fly at them. "Keith now is a good time to let us know what you want us to do!"

"Form Blazing Sword!" Keith yelled as the sword formed. He positioned Voltron as the beast flew at them. The Blazing Sword then sliced it in two. Both pieces of the Robeast headed toward the ground, but not before they exploded in the air.

"Whoo!" Lance howled. "What a way to start the morning!"

Allura smiled as she saw the sun beginning to rise. "Yep, it's a great morning." she laughed as she noticed Lotor's ship begin to leave the planet.

Nodding in approval, Keith stared at Lotor's retreating ship, making sure it completely left the atmosphere. "Ok team; let's make this our lion practice for the day. I think we all deserve a rest."

Zarkon, King of Doom, the most sadistic of all the emperors of the Drule Empire, walked down the hallways of his castle lost in thought. Having had many enemies in the past, he never thought of them as much trouble. He disposed of such nuisances rather quickly. Others, a bit more of a challenge, took more time to dispose of, but he always managed to do it. Like the thorns preventing him from touching the beautiful black roses in his gardens, these nuisances, these despicable thorns stopped, if only for a moment, his access to power.

Now, Viceroy Throk, his latest thorn, posed an obstacle in his quest. He would do anything to dispose of this latest nuisance.

As the doors opened to the control room, his subjects rose from their chairs and saluted their King. "At ease men," he told them as he headed toward the video screen. "Did we win?" he asked, knowing full well the outcome.

The soldier at the controls answered him, "No sire, Voltron defeated us again. The Prince is on his way back. His ETA is an hour."

Zarkon nodded absently. About to turn around and leave, Cossack, his third in Command, intercepted his path and bowed at him before speaking. "My King, would you like to see the latest recording?"

"Send it to my chambers." He ordered as he passed Cossack.

"Sire, I'm sorry, but I'm receiving a connection from Viceroy Throk." Another soldier called out before Zarkon could leave the room.

"Patch him through." The Doom King stated.

The video screen lit up to show the latest thorn prickling Zarkon's ego.

"King Zarkon, may I congratulate you on your current loss." Throk smiled triumphantly behind his thick beard. "Once again, Voltron defeated the mighty King of Doom."

"Did you just contact me to gloat or do you have a purpose Throk?"

Still feeling rather sarcastic, Throk continued his taunting game, "Will you now admit defeat and let me take over as head of the Drule Empire?"

"It's not over yet, Throk. As a matter of fact, I guarantee you I am far from defeat. Now if you don't have anything else worthwhile to tell me, get lost!" Zarkon yelled cutting the transmission. His nostrils flared with anger. Cocky son of a bitch! This ends today. He turned to Cossack. "Contact me when Lotor returns."


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As he walked back to his chambers alone, Zarkon felt a foreign emotion within him. He never felt something quite so strange. He knew of Throk's commitment to put together an army to fight against him. He knew many wanted him to step down due to his numerous defeats from Voltron. The Empire wanted new blood and Throk couldn't wait to offer his. It's fear. It's damn fear! Zarkon thought to himself. He had never known fear before, but for the first time ever, Zarkon felt bathed in it. I will not concede to it, not while I'm alive and breathing.

He walked into his chambers ready to view the latest battle. He had studied the previous recordings with a careful eye over and over again for the past six months. Every time he saw them, the more the King knew his plan would work. Zarkon thought about it for quite some time, but now he needed to put the plan into action more than ever. Throk would force him to act before all the pieces of the game were in place, but nevertheless it had to be done. He completed almost everything anyway. The last couple of pieces could be completed rather fast with no great consequences.

The Doom King turned on the video screen in his room and watched the latest recording for almost an hour. He smiled, knowing that his predictions came true on the screen. After watching intensely, he turned it off and poured himself a glass of wine. He felt better, the time had come. Suddenly, his comm. rang off. "Yes?"

"Your Majesty, the Prince has just entered Doom airspace."

"Tell him to meet me in the Throne room."

"Yes, Sire."

Taking a deep breath, he pressed his comm. and contacted another one of his thorns, but this one he still needed...for the moment. "Haggar, we need to talk. I'll see you later today at your lab."

"Yes, your Majesty." Her voice crackled over the comm.

Zarkon put his glass down and headed toward the door as his cape flew around him. A little glee now within him, he felt more content and ready to prick his thorn. He smiled; Viceroy Throk didn't know what headed his way.

Keith basked in the sun while resting by the lake, listening to the others as they swam and played in the water. He loved spending time at the private lake within the compounds of the castle, especially when he needed to be alone with his thoughts. Today, although not alone, he did have a lot of thinking to do.

He experienced a tricky battle this morning. Rarely did Lotor attack at dawn. Keith knew that the Prince must have had his reasons, but he found no apparent one and this continuously nagged him. Attacks could happen at any time, but early morning attacks were not the norm. Rather, they were careless.

The traveling time from Doom to Arus is at least an hour, he thought. By the time they would reach Arus in the early morning hours, its suns could prevent them from having clear visibility upon entering the surface of the planet. Cloaking devices would basically burn off, making detection inevitable. It just isn't smart. If there is a reason, I could understand taking the risk, but nothing! Not one thing I can think of...

"Hey Commander! Stop pretending you're resting, we know you are deep in thought over there." He heard the voice of his friend Lance.

"Yeah, Keith, quit working and come join us!" Allura shouted laughingly as she splashed Hunk and Pidge playfully.

Keith did not answer. He kept his eyes closed, but his lips shifted into a smile.

"Come on, Commander! Quit playing around. Coran demanded that you to take a break like the rest of us!" Hunk yelled back.

"I am resting! You have your way of relaxing and I have mine!" Keith shouted without looking at them.

From the lake, Lance looked at Allura who now seemed a little concerned. She swam to him and whispered, "He's still stuck trying to guess why Lotor attacked this morning."

"You know him." Lance answered while shrugging.

"Exactly!" She tilted her head to confirm. "I'm worried about him. Lately, that's all he does, work, strategize, plan...blah, blah, blah!"

"Come on Allura. At least he's strategizing under the sun." Lance winked back.

"Lance! He needs a break...even if he doesn't think so. Coran told me that Keith saw Dr. Gorma because he thought he was suffering from anxiety." She stated looking at the prone figure lying on the blanket, pretending to sleep. She shook her head in frustration. "Dr. Gorma prescribed him some anti depressant pills to help him relax and sleep better, since sleeping pills are out of the question. But you know him. I'm sure he hasn't taken one. He's too young to start acting like a fuddy duddy!"

"Fuddy duddy?" Lance asked raising his eyebrow. "One, how do you know all this? And two, where did you hear that expression?"

"Dr. Gorma told Coran in the strictest of confidence. Coran asked me to keep an eye on him. I shouldn't have told you anything, but I need your help." She disclosed the information, albeit, with a bit of guilt in her tone. Allura sighed, "The expression?" Shrugging she finished, "I heard it on one of those shows from Earth, Hunk's family sends him." Her gaze turned back to the Commander. Suddenly, her eyes widened and a smile crept in. "Hey, I just got an idea!" She told Lance in a loud whisper then leaned over and whispered something in his ear.

"He'll kill you," he answered as a smile crossed his face. "I love it!"

Allura swam over to Pidge and whispered in his ear, "There's a well across from the lake, just ahead of those trees. Grab a bucket from there."

Pidge looked at her curiously and a bit confused, but the Princess smiled, "I'll tell you what I plan to do when you bring it. But leave quietly. I don't want Keith to know you left."

Nodding, Pidge smiled, "A trick?"

"I think it's time for our Commander to have some fun," She told him with a wink.

Giggling lightly, Pidge swam toward the edge of the lake. Hunk began to speak but Lance waved him to shut his mouth.

"Hey, guys, I'll race you across the lake."

"Keith, you in?"

"No," he replied without moving.

"All right, you snooze you lose buddy!"

The trio continued playing while waiting for Pidge to return. Minutes later, the kid returned with a brown wooden bucket, a huge grin and wild eyes. Allura swam toward him and quietly got out of the water. She then filled the bucket with water and slowly walked behind Keith far enough that he wouldn't notice her going around him. When strategically in place, she gave Lance a signal.

"Hey, Keith!" Lance began, "Are you sure you don't want to come into the lake?"

"Maybe later Lance."

"Well, if you don't want to come into the lake, I guess the lake will have to come to you."

"What?"

At that moment, Allura threw the water from the bucket all over Keith.

"What the hell!" Yelled Keith as he sat up. "Lance, you son of a bitch!" he screamed as he turned around, but found Allura laughing loudly instead.

"That's what you get for not wanting to spend time with us."

"Oh really?" Keith stood up, pulling the wet strands of his hair back from his forehead. "All right Princess, I think you're ready to spend some time...with me, milady," he taunted her as he came up to her.

Her eyes widened. "Oh, no... Don't you even think about it! You can't treat royalty like this."

"Yeah, right, you can't play that card with me whenever you see fit!"

He ran up to her as Allura tried to run away from him. "No!" She screamed, half laughing. "Where are you taking me?"

"When I catch you, I'll let you know."

Keith ran after her as she ran away from him half-laughing.

"You're going to throw me into the lake!"

"Of course I am!"

"Only if you can catch me!"

He continued to run after her as the rest of the group laughed. The Princess looked like a little chicken running wildly on a farm. Lance laughed for a while until he saw Keith finally catch her. Both laughed heartedly enjoying the moment, as if it were only their own. He saw something in their faces. Their laughter and smiles for each other had a twinkle in them that he never noticed until that moment. It was then that Lance knew their smiles told a story deeper than anyone else had ever noticed.