Voltron/Ronin X-over Part One     His ears wrung painfully as he did his best to set the Red Lion down gently but to his charagin the metal scraped noisily and the Lion swung around in a circle.  He had a moment to wonder if the rest of Voltron Force had survived the fight and if they'd gone through the strange portal too before the pain overwhelmed him and he blacked out.
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    Sai had been swimming when he'd seen the metal... plane?... come down on the other side of the small lake.  Without hesitation he dove below the sureface, already in his sub-armour and sped towards the crash site.
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    Keith watched impatiently as Pidge tried for the tenth time to activate Red's beacon and the one on Lance's comm. but neither were transmitting.
    "Keith his comm. and his Lion's communications must be damaged."
    Keith shook his dark head as he looked at Allura, Hunk and Pidge.  "Which means we can't find him or talk to him and he may not be able to do likewise.  he could be dead or dying and we wouldn't know."
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    Sai stared at the machine in front of him, not a plane, a Lion.  Slowly he moved forward and carefully felt along the top of it for an opening.  This would have been a lot more difficult if it hadn't been on it's side.  His probbing fingers found a latch and a portion of metal on the Lion's head swung open, and Sai just managed to catch an unconcious man about seventeen years old before he hit the ground.
    "Well, I can't leave you here if you're hurt so lets get you back to Mia's and see what she can do for you."  Cye muttered as he carefully removed the red helmet and set it inside the cockpit... he didn't like the amount of blood that was mingled in the boy's brown hair but he had to move him.  "I sure hope your machine'll be okay, but there's not time to worry about that now."
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    "When will the Lions be functional again Pidge?"
    "If we're lucky, about three days..."
    Keith tried to control his anger, after all it wasn't Pidge's fault that the Lioons were in such bad shape.  A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts and he turned to face the Princess.
    "We'll find Lance, Keith.  Besides he'll be okay.  He's a born fighter and knowing his luck he's probably just fine."
    "Maybe you're right..."
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    Lance groaned as he tried to open his eyes.  He was aware of voices.  Strange voices and his first reaction was to jump out of bed.  Which he did, but a wave of dizziness washed over him and a hand on his shoulder kept him from falling over.
    "Easy, friend.  You're safe, just relax."
    Lance shook his head and stared at the larger boy who was helping him.  "Who the heck are you?"
    The guy's smile slipped slightly. "Kento, those others over there are my friends.  Ryo, Rowen, Sage and Sai's the guy who found you..."
    At that Lance pulled away frowning and spoke directly at Sai, his voice harsher than he'd intended because of the pain.  "And the Red Lion?  How is she?"
    "I don't know much about machines but yours didn't look that great."
    Lance rubbed his head.  "That's just great.  How am I supposed to find the others if the Red's out of commision.  I knew I should have skimmed the water to decrease velocity... if Lotor's hurt any of the others."  Pent up rage flared and he turned and swung, plowing his fist right into the wall.  He barely felt the ache in his hand as he removed it from the plaster.  He didn't look at the others.  "Sorry about that."
    "Well what's another wall..."
    Lance looked up at a new voice.  A girl he hadn't been introduced to and a young boy stood in the doorway.
    The boy smiled and ran up to him, "Hi I'm Yuli.  Are you going to help the Ronins find my parents?"
     Lance bent down on one knee.  "Your parents?"
    "Yep!  The Dynasty took them and they haven't come back even after Talpa's defeat and I miss them.  You'll help won't you?"
     Lance felt as if he'd been stabbed as he looked into Yuli's hope-filled face.  "First I have to find the other members of Voltron.  Then I'd have to know more about this Dynasty of yours..."
    Yuli's eyes widdened.  "You don't know... but you're dressed like a warrior..."
    Lance nodded, "I am.  I'm second in command of Voltron Force or as Keith would say, a thorn in his side.  I fly the Red Lion and fight the Drule and Lotor... I'd fight King Zarkon too, but he's 'switched' sides..."  Seeing the kid's confusion he shrugged.  "When Voltron's right arm got cut off while we were fighting Lotor's Ro-beast I went through a portal of some kind.  I may not be a genius like Pidge but given your confusion I'd say I'm in a different dimension."
    Yuli paled, "You're not from the Nether Realm are you?"
    Lance frowned, "Nether Realm?  No... I don't really believe in ghosts, with the exception of King Alfor that is, his daughter talks to him all the time."
    Mia spoke this time.  "The Nether Realm does deal with spirits but it's also another dimension run by a Demon called Talpa, who's been destroyed.  Unfortunately that hasn't necessarily stopped the problems."
    "Well, maybe if I get my Big Kittycat on her feet and find the others, we can give you a hand... or paw..."  He smirked, geetting to his feet.
    Ryo folded his arms.  "Look, it's nice of you to offer buy..."
    Lance shoved his fists into his pockets and looked at him from under half closed eyelids.  "Wasn't talking to you.  What you do is your business.  This is 'tween me and the kid."  He looked at his Sai, "You wouldn't want to show me where my Lion is would you?"
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    Lance wasn't partial to water but as a member of the Academy he'd been forced to leaarn how to swim, still looking at the frail brown-haired boy beside him he couldn't believe what he'd been told.  "You mean to tell me you swam THAT far in less then two minutes?"
    Sai blushed and stared at the ground, "Yes, but swimming's as natural to me as breathing."
    "Man, you would have hated it where I grew up then.  The only water we had was shipped in, from underground springs or recycled, Lisa and I had to..."
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    Sage heard Lance's voice trail off into a painful silence.  He wasn't the only one, all of the Ronins not ony heard it but felt it.  The guy had been through a lot in his short life and it didn't take much to figure that out.
    "So how are we going to get across?  I can swim... now but well, I'd rather avoid it. Besides Red hates water."
    Sage cocked his head, "What do you mean by that?"
    Lance shrugged, "Allura thinks they're more than machines and somtimes... well, Red did dance away from the Blue's water canon that one time and I hadn't touched the controls but give her nice warm lava and she'll have a blast."
    Now Rowen was curious and Sage could see him going over everything that had been said, he'd found a new experiment.  "So you do believe it..."
    Lance stared at the lake, "When Keith had Hagar's spell on him... it was the Black who broke it.  There were others too... but if I ever admitted to actually believing in it Allura and Keith... hey, EVERYBODY would have a field day.  I'd never hear the end of it and of course, people would wonder if I were flying the Lion or if it was taking me for a ride."
    Ryo crossed his arms, "Do you always worry about what people think?"
    Lance actually laughed, "Me?  Man you should tell Amalgamous that!  He'd lock you up for being crazy."  Then he cleared his throat speaking in a low baritone.  "And Lance, the rebelious pilot of Red Lion, Daredevil in the extreme, unreliable, short-fused, hot-tempered, out-of-control, unreliable, maniac... Need I go on?"
    Sai shook his head, "But you're not like that."
    Lance's face turned serious and he looked to the other side of the lake, "Wait till you see me fly.  When you do, you'll think that way too."
    "Well if you like to fly so much, we'll get along just fine."
    Sage blinked at Rowen.  He stood in his armour and Lance was floating above the ground a huge grin plastered on his face.  And shook his head as he felt himself lift off the ground.  "Rowen, if you drop me in that freezing water I shall severely harm you!"
    "If you can catch me!"
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    Lance took in the Red's damage and felt sick at the sight.  "Man what I wouldn't give to have Hunk and Pidge here.  This is going to take forever to fix."  Slowly he set to work, noticing that Rowen stuck  with him as the others started gathering up spare parts.
    With little more than a nod Rowen started fiddling with the communications systems.  Lance let him as he did a systems check on the rest.
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    He'd already checked the main systems and to his relief, only the landing gear had sustained any real damage, that and the hull.  Rowen was still fiddling with the comm and with a glance at his own comm device, that was busted, he took it off and passed it to him, "It might help you."
    With that he crawled out of the Lion stood up straight and nearly fell over when the pain from his head and side rolled over him.
    "Easy Lance, here sit down and rest a moment."  The voice that he recognized as Sage's turned cold and hard.  "I told you Ryo.  He is hurt and badly.  This pushing himself to his limits is not helping him at all."
    Lance placed a hand on Sage's shoulder.  "Not much choice.  I have to find the others, when I do then I'll rest, till then back to work."  He tried to get to his feet casually but it proved more difficult then he thought.
    "No.  You're going to rest..."
    Lance met his violet gaze but unlike many others he didn't flinch.  "People get used to pain, trust me this is nothing compared to some of the things I've dealt with.  Besides, with the others still out there maybe hurt, you'd have to chain me down to keep me from trying to help because despite what you've done so far you don't have the knowledge needed to get Red Lion flight worthy again.  But thanks for the concern, anyway."  Stiffly he moved back to his Lion and set to work.
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    "Ryo, Lance can't keep this up, even with Rowen's help with the computers and ours with moving the equipment he's doing too much."
    Ryo's eyes followed the strange young man, clad in the red flight suit.  "Is that Halo talking or Sage?"
    "Both.  He's hurt Ryo, physically he's probably in enough pain to put you on your back even if Talpa were making a pass at Mia but mentally, he's blaming himself for the accident and I believe that if any of his friends are hurt... well you remember what happened at the house.  I have no doubts that he's experienced many horrible things, things that have left their mark on him but I also believe the is a person who does not wish to bother others with his troubles."
    Ryo's eyes narrowed, "That's how I read him, too."
    "He's sort of a cross between you and Sai."
    "Oh, and how do you figure that?"
    "Well his temper is quick, he's rash, has a big heart, flys a Lion dealing with the element fire and doesn't care for outter authority.  That's a lot like you.  But he doesn't discuss his feelings, seems to love nature, is embarassed by a lot of things but hides it well and is extremely har on himself and that's like Sai."
    "You missed the fact that he's stubborn, a rebel, and has some admirable leadership qualities."
    "What do you mean?"
    "He's managed, with very little difficulty to gain our trust and cooperation.  All of us, including me, are following his lead and his instructions and we're all doing it without thinking."
    "He did say he was second in command of his Voltron Force..."
    "True, but he said it mockingly.  Like it was a joke more than anything else, I doubt he even thinks he could lead and if he got the chance to I think he'd turn it down."
    "Why?"
    "He's like Sai, Sage.  Sai's the one who's the stable and calming one of our group.  He keeps the team fixed in reality and sane.  But he does it all so subtly that no one knows it but me.  He's the one who keeps me on track but he's not able to take over the leadership because it's too much of a burden.  Lance is a lot like that, I think, subtle in that fact but not in much else..."
    "You're right about that.  Let us hope that his friends are of good health."
    "Yah..."
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    "Hey Lance!"
    "Yah, Ro, what is it?"
    "I think the radio's working now but maybe you should try it..."  He'd barely finished his sentence before Lance was beside him pressing buttons.
    "This is Lance Braddock, calling any member of the Voltron Force, please acknowledge."
    "Rowen's eyes widdened as the view screen flickered to life and a young boy, a little older then Yuli and dressed in green appeared.
    "Lance!  Man, you sure had us worried.  You should see Keith!  He's paced a hole into the ground, worrying about you.  Hey hold on a sec.  Hunk!  Tell Keith and the Princess that I've got our missing pain in the neck on-line, will ya?"
    "Lance!  No way."
    Rowen's eyes widden even more as a big guy, closely resembling Kento appeared behind the younger boy.
    "You okay, Lance?"
    "Yah Hunk just fine.  Could ya get Keith for me?"
    "Yah no problem!"
    The younger boy shook his head.  "Did he just LISTEN to you?"
    Lance smirked, "Believe it or not Pidge he actually did."
    Pidge pointed to him then, "Who's your friend?"
    "Rowen, Pidge.  Pidge, Rowen.  Did you know you two have something in common?"
    "What?"  They asked at the same time.
    "You both have huge brains!  Rowen's the guy who, with no help from me, got the radio to work again."
    Pidge's eyes widdened, "What about the beacon?"
    "Beacon?"
    "Look Pidge why don't you talk him through it and then let me know when Keith shows up, kay?"
    Rowen didn't pay anymore attention to Lance as he focused on Pidge's instructions and missed his exit.
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    Desperately Lance fought the urge to cough until he'd moved a long enough ways away to avoid being heard.
    When the coughing attack hit he doubled over and when he finished he wasn't surprised to see the red stain in the mucus he'd coughed up.
    "Now will you follow Sage's advice and rest?"
    Lance looked up.  "Ryo, how...?"
    "Remarkably good hearing.  Now answer my question."
    "I'll make you a deal instead."
    "Oh?"
    Lance nodded, "I'll rest after I convince Keith I'm fine and only if you say nothing about this to anyone, except maybe Sage."
    "Why Sage?"
    "He reminds me of... someone very special.. a good friend... 'sides I got a good feeling about him..."
    "And if I say no and go right to your friend Keith?"
    Lance got to his feet so fast that Ryo took a step back, the darkly intense stare in Lance's eyes reminded him strangely of when Sai got mad, not a good thing at all.  "Do you really wanna go there?"
    "Just asking... It's a deal."
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    Keith waited until Lance's face came on the screen and without needing to ask, he knew.  "You're hurt."
    Lance laughted, "Get real Keith."
    "Don't joke about this Lancelot!  I'm not in the mood."  The use of Lance's full name seemed to knock him off guard and for a brief moment he saw the extent of his best friend's pain.  "Who is in charge over there?  You, Rowen, get your Commander for me."
    A minute later a long, dark-haired boy looked back at him.  "You wanted ta talk ta me?"
    "You're in charge?"  The boy nodded.  "Then why is Lance still up when he should be in a hospital?"
    "He's your charge, friend.  You should know as well as I do that he's as bone-headed as they come."
    The anger went out of Keith, "He made you a deal, right?  Probably something about letting me think he was fine, then he'd rest?"
    The boy's lips curved upward a little, "Something like that."
    Keith shook his head.  "Sorry, I'm just..."
    "...protective of your friends?"
    Keith smiled back at the grinning guy in front of him.  "Yah, look let's start over.  I'm Keith Akira."
    "Ryo Sanada.  So what do you recommend that  I do about out friend?"
    "Well, get a large club and knock him out.  I'm afraid that'll be the only way to get him to rest."
    Ryo grinned mischeviously.  "Well I don't have a club but I do have a Sage and a Kento."
    Keith stared at him a moment.  "I don't think I want to know.  We'll be there soon... but if you can get him to rest..."
    "We'll do our best, just relax, he'll be fine even if we have to force a doctor down his throat."
    Keith grinned at the thought, "What I wouldn't give to see that!"
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    Ryo walked out of the Lion only to come face to face with an upset Lance.
    "So what'd he say?"
    "He told me to make you rest even if I have to knock you out to do it."
    Lance's face hardened.  "And?"
    Ryo looked over at Sage.  **Can you use your abilities to put him to sleep?**
    **Yah.**
    **Kento, grab him and hold him while Sage puts him to sleep.**
    Like clockwork the plan worked and Lance was resting peacefully as Sage healed his injuries.