Chapter six: Space Jam!

The ground jerked under them as the giant mechanical feline lowered it's head to them, and they all braced for whatever it planned to do to them.

But when it stopped moving, they noticed it's mouth open wide before them and a ramp lower down to touch the ground; creating a way for them to gain entry.

"Oh,.." Hunk vocalized, lowering his hands, which he'd had shielding his face. "Ok then."

"So.. what should we do now?" Dax wondered, when their guards went down again and Shiro resumed his thinking. "Where do we go from here?"

And staring at the lion for a few moments,.. Lance knew what he wanted to do.

"Lance!" Turning upon instinct, Shiro barely caught sight of him running up into the lion's open mouth.

xxxx

Another set of doors slid apart and inside a seat faced a bunch of panels, which lit up with screens; bringing detail to the small compact room. Glancing back and forth briefly, he sat down in the seat and found nothing happened.

"Here we go." He sighed, reclining in the chair with ease. Suddenly, though, it jerked forward, which inclined him to grab the handles to catch his balance; as a panel appeared directly in front of him.

Footsteps soon sounded behind him, and the several presences that came with them all held a different level of curiosity, as they all studied their new surroundings.

"Impressive." Dax mentioned, sounding somewhere between actually impressed and jokingly surprised.

"This technology is unlike anything we've ever seen on earth before." Pidge breathed. "Everything we've been striving to achieveā€¦ It's like science fiction.. come to life."

"And yet it's.. nothing like what they ever had." Shiro mentioned thoughtfully.

"Who?" Lance wondered, leaning back toward him. And Shiro's fist clenched gently upon the back of the pilot seat.

"The ones who held me prisoner." He said, when opening his eyes gravely.

"So.. even you haven't seen something like this before?" Pidge wondered.

"Oh man, we're doomed! Doomed I tell you!" Hunk whined.

"No! -ih..- we're not- doomed. Alright? We'll get through this.." Shiro immediately assured them. "We just have to stay calm,.. and stay focused."

"Even so.. what should we do with this thing now?" Dax wondered. "I mean, it's not like we can keep it here, not after what went on here."

"Well,.. sure we can." Lance spoke up, shrugging a few fingers up off the handles he still gripped. "I mean, no one knows what happened here but us, right? And It's been hidden here for what? Decades? I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Actually Dax is right,.. We can't wait around here." Shiro agreed in contradiction to Lance's otherwise valid reasoning. "Whoever is trying to find this lion,.. Whoever I was sent to find it before them.. They could show up at any moment looking for the lion. And we can't be here when they do. We can't risk the safety of earth for that."

"So what are you suggesting we do?" Lance asked him quizzically. But then a withdrawal pulled his mind forward into a growling void then yanked him back out.

"Woah, did you guys just hear that?" he asked glancing back at them in amazement.

"Uh.. hear what?" Keith wondered, as Lance leaned forward to inspect his panel.

"I think it's talking to me." He answered. Curiously leaning closer some more, he thought for a moment before hesitantly pressing a couple buttons.

And as a result, the lion shifted its feet under it and threw its head up for a mighty roar; leaving everyone in it's cockpit to scream or jump intensely at the sudden motion and earth-shaking response.

"Alright.. now let's try this." Lance decided, lunging the handles forward one after the other.

xxxx

Silence was shattered with the rocks that shot from the newly created hole, and the bright blue of the flying feline gleamed in the sunshine.

xxxx

"-ih Lance- be careful!" Keith grunted, holding onto the cockpit chair for dear life, after recovering from the screaming of a couple others among them. "We don't know what all this thing is capable of."

"What was that you said before?.." Lance asked casually, peering back for only a second. "Shut up and trust me." Lunging the handles forward, the jets fired and they shot forward and barrel rolled, then dove straight up and weaved around from there.

"You are.. the worst.. pilot.. ever!.." Keith breathed.

"Ugh,.. where'd you get your pilot's license from?" Dax groaned, while holding himself up atop the control panel he was leaning hunched over on by the elbows; looking up as best he could from all the motion going on around them.

"A cracker jack box?" He barely managed to say.

"Nice try, geek head, but no.." Lance shrugged, with the tilt of his head and without breaking his gaze from his screen. "I got it from the same place everyone else did.. the Garrison Academy for Young Pilots." He turned toward him finally to finish. "What's your excuse?"

"No comment." Dax answered, plopping his head between his hands, then braced when another jerk began to grow their altitude.

"-uh-..Hey wait! What are you doing?" Shiro wondered, almost sounding a bit panicked, as the jets blazed and their screen view turned heavenward with their new directional velocity.

"I'm not doing anything, it's like it's on autopilot." Lance told him.

Soon the blue sky turned dark and stars had begun to show, and this almost weightless feeling came to them; even though they could still stand on the floor like gravity demanded.

"Where is it taking us?" Keith asked in more of a hostile manner.

"I just said it's like it's on autopilot." Lance reiterated.

"So.. what? You're just gonna let it blast off with us willy nilly?" Dax asked, lifting his hands to the air.

"Great plan, tex." He finished, crossing his arms dryly.

"Give me a break, ok? I'm still getting the feel for this thing." Lance protested in his own defense. "And besides I think it wants us out here, and it says there's a ship approaching earth. I think it wants us to stop it."

"What did it say exactly?" Pidge wondered, in her exasperation.

"Well it's not like it's talking with words, more like feeding thoughts into my brain.. kind of." Lance reasoned, leaning his head to the left, then lifting a finger to his head with the last part.

"Wait.. -what is that noise?" Keith wondered, looking up almost in surprise.

"Yeah, I'm hearing it too." Dax agreed.

"Me too,.. what is that?" Pidge wondered.

"Yeah, it-it sounds like..-wah!" Hunk screamed, when a sliding burst of purple brought a clearly alien craft into their midst. Everyone stared, awful by what they beheld of its presence.

"They're here.." Dax breathed.

At the utterance of these words some thoughts and feelings suddenly came back to Shiro. Thoughts he wouldn't have wanted to relive, unless he was forced to.

Shiro backed away from the chair in front of him, and only stopped when the cool of the closed doors came up behind him. As soon as he hit contact, though, he slid down it so that his free hand could land on the floor next to him. And as he stared listlessly forward from his lowered head, echoes started returning a more detailed cacophony; that when he closed his eyes, they began to see them played back again..

Grimacing at the beatings he'd taken on occasion,.. dodging to safety in a place he couldn't seem to recognize,.. feeling the sting of the many shots he'd been given.. and even a moment or two of not feeling able to breathe..

"Shiro?" Finally opening his eyes as the memories rolled off and away; the concerned face of Keith met him with other glances standing above them.

"Uh.. I'm ok.." Shiro breathed as Keith removed his hand from the man's shoulder and shifted back a little. "But we can't let them land on earth.. if they find our planet worthy, they'll call for backup and have it invaded immediately. And there'll be no way to stop it with just one of these lions."

"Ok.. then what should we do?" Pidge asked, as Keith and Dax helped Shiro back to his feet again.

"I'm not sure." Shiro sighed, his gaze wandering down again.

"I do." Lance spoke up, earning him their attention once again. "Everyone hold onto something.. I think I know what to do." Everyone took a hold of the cockpit's framing, except for Hunk; who grabbed onto Pidge with both arms around her.

"Alright.. now let's see what this baby can do." Lance said, when facing forward again. Throwing a handle forward the jaws opened and the lion shot a long beam from the cannon that retracted out for use; indicated by the clang of moving parts and the laser beam that zapped the giant ship, bursting parts of it into flames.

"Dang." Dax breathed.

Making the last minute dodge to safety, they cleared the beam that came their way and Lance breathed a quick sigh; leaning back to close his eyes for a second, then lunged forward into battle once again. Smaller ships appeared from somewhere on the mighty space vessel and he weaved around recklessly to avoid them; even hitting one that sent them spinning.

Regaining a little control, they swiveled down the side of the long craft leaving a linear gash from its claws; which somehow aided in more explosions.

"Nice, Lance!" Shiro praised, oddly more thrilled about this than some who knew him well would've thought.

"Right! Now let's get these guys away from our planet." Lance decided, as the Lion took off away from earth.

xxxx

"Open a channel.." The alien commander ordered.

Moments later a screen with a distinct, yet obscured shape upon it appeared.

"My lord,.. the escaped prisoner and his people found the Lion."

"Stay on their path.. capturing that lion is your first and only priority. You do away with the rest to Haggar, for all I care." A deep groggy voice returned in an eerily calm tone.

"Vrepidsa!" The commander saluted respectfully and the screen went down.

xxxx

"They're gaining on us!" Pidge warned.

"It's weird.. they're not shooting at us.. they're just chasing." Lance mentioned with a sigh.

"Guys, this is obvious." Shiro reasoned, staring straight ahead and hunched a bit forward, with his free hand still braced up to the plated ceiling. "They're probably after this lion because they know how powerful it is." He turned his glance to whoever happened to be next to him, which was Keith and Dax. "They need it in good shape if they want to use it for whatever awful plan they have in store for it.. we can't let that happen."

"Agreed but.. what if we can't outrun them?" Lance wondered, peering over his shoulder again.

"Where are we?" Pidge wondered gazing out the right side of the one hundred eighty degree screen.

"Edge of the solar system.." Shiro breathed, noting the familiarity of the large celestial body by them. "There's Kerberos."

"What?!" Keith gasped.

"It takes months for our ships to get out here.." Pidge marveled. "But we got out here in like, five seconds."

"Woah, no way! We're really out here?!" Lance breathed, leaning over slightly to see better, then straightened up again. "I bet if we set down there, maybe we can lose 'em."

"Lance!" Pidge screamed, pointing straight ahead of them.

"Hoh!" Lance gasped, pulling up on the handles, he tried to dodge the floating space rock coming towards them among others, but he hit it anyway and sent them in a tailspin. Everyone standing around him hit the ground and when Shiro fell, the elbow of his slinged arm jolted everything attached to it and he grimaced. Bringing back another memory of the many beatings he seemed to have endured, snapping him back as he lay on his back on the shaking ground.

"Shiro!" Keith cried, coming to pull him up to a sitting position, leaning him against the wall on their right. "You ok?"

"Ahn, yeah,.. I'm ok." Shiro breathed, holding his arm at the shoulder with the other hand. But again they had to brace, when their direction suddenly changed again.

"Hang on, you guys, I got this!" Lance called, remaining focused on the path ahead.

"Be careful, man! This isn't a simulator." Pidge warned, peering over his shoulder at him.

"Good thing, heh, always wrecked the simulator." Lance commented, jetting the lion forward again.

"Remind me why we let this guy take the helm?" Dax wondered.

"Because none of you decided to take it yourselves." Lance answered, bluntly. And besides,.. like I said,.. I got this." And he hit something else and had to struggle for control once again.

"Right,.." Dax responded dryly.

"You good, Shiro?" He asked the man still on the floor behind him; holding his shoulder with his head laid back and Keith still at his side.

"Let's just get somewhere safe where we can regroup." Shiro breathed softly. "And.. think about our options for a next step."

"He's right, we gotta get out of here." Keith agreed, looking up at them from where he knelt, and stood up to continue. "We can't keep running like this.. Sooner or later they're gonna catch us, if we don't do something to lose them."

"So what do you suggest we do then?" Lance wondered. "I mean, it's not like we can't just, I don't know,.. zap away like in some time portal or something." Suddenly a giant blue circle tore itself out of the confines of space, sporting a unique pattern around the rim of it while the center fluctuated like water.

"What.. the heck.. is that?!" Dax cried.

"They're still coming for us!" Keith warned.

"Uhh,.. this may sound crazy.. but I think it wants us to go through there." Lance mentioned out loud.

"Where does it lead?" Pidge wondered in a low, hesitant voice.

"I.. don't know." Lance admitted lowly, perking up at the eyes staring at him. "Hey the lion's not really being very specific.."

"Shiro?.. You're the senior officer here." He decided a moment later after a thought. "What should we do?"

And the lieutenant officer of the Garrison remained silent for a short time longer, but after a quick evaluation of their situation and what had happened thus far, he reached a decision.

"Whatever's happening here, the lion knows more than we do." He began, turning to them again. "But we're a team now.. we should decide together." And after some exchanges of glances and hands touching shoulders, Lance looked up when those hands spread to one on each shoulder.

"Alright,.. I guess we're ditching class again tomorrow." He said, diving the lion for the strangely lit hole.

Hey you guys! FINALLY got another chapter of this story done! A million apologies for the long wait, but I hope you guys still like it. Serves me right for digging myself too deep into this fanfiction stuff. And on top of that had stuff come up.. and distractions.. and long hours and overall just insane schedules that I had to attend to, before getting back to this. And a lack of inspiration doesn't help either. Hopefully I'll be able to do more here soon.

Also, just so you know,.. the scene with Iverson and his officer spotting the Blue Lion is implied. Meaning it still happened, even though it did not make it into this chapter. And as always.. thx soo much! And I'll see you next time! Thx!