Voltron Fan Fiction ❯ Desert Rain ❯ Yellow Lion Gone Feral ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Desert Rain
Chapter 1: Yellow Lion Gone Feral

January 2, 2586

You ever had those days when you KNOW something strange was going to happen? Like a presence in the room even though no one else is around? That's what I've been feeling all morning, and no... it's not
the fever getting to my head! Call it intuition if you want, but I still think that something is going down, something.... I don't know how to explain it.

Maybe it had to do with that newscast about the explosion at Galaxy Garrison, it wasn't one of Lotor's
usual bombardment, for the sole attacker come from inside Comet Corp... or maybe it was imprisoned. Never less, it gives me the creeps just thinking about it, but does raise a few questions like how one person(?) could have destroyed the entire building, especially one with some of the best security around! Personally I think Comet Corp. has lost their grip, financially as well as mentally, for there has been weird rumours about the company. Some I'd rather not repeat..
.
But then again, this is Galaxy Garrison's problem, not ours. Ha! As if Pidge hasn't hacked into the GG mainframe already! Too bad Amalgomus! Whatever problem dealing with evil occurs (even within the
Garrison) we'll be there to fight off the bad guys!

But sadly though, sometimes the dividing line between Good and Evil can be blurred. Trust me on this
one, for I know this from experience. ~Hunk

Hunk sighed contently as he placed the pen down and closed the notebook, then as he got up from the desk, grabbed the
journal and placed it upon the bookshelf above his head, behind the collection of "How To" books and other sort of manuals.
He was glad that Allura had bought him another notebook for Christmas, for his old one had pages falling out from its spine and the cover was worn out due to age. But within the ancient book held his thoughts and emotions, one of the things he'd rather
not have fall into the wrong hands.

"Oh well...off to Lion Practice!" He thought to himself as he grabbed his uniform from the mahogany chair by his bed, slowly
tip-toeing over his clothes, magazine and other sorts of junk. His sickness from the past few days did not help his cleaning
habits one bit, better get to it after practice before Nanny snags him by the ear!

He then makes it to the doorway and walks out, closing the door, being quite enough so that Nanny or any other servant will not squabble about his condition. He sighed a breath of relief when no sound was heard. Until he then turned around and saw..

"BOOGA!"

"GAH!!!!" screamed Hunk jumping nearly three feet in the air, petrified at the sight of the malicious brown eyes glaring at
him, then curling up in a smile as roaring laughter came from the beast that was- "PIDGE!! Goddamn you little pipsqueak you
scared the living hell out of me! Whadda ya have to say for yourself!"

"I wish I had a camera!!" Pidge snickered, wheezing from the lack of air, then returned to his rounds of laughter. He notice
Hunk's face twisted with anger, and tried to control himself "Oh come on Hunk! You have to admit that was pretty good!"

"Sneaky!" Hunk snarled
"Stealthy is more like it!" Pidge quipped
"Yeah well...the joke's getting old!" Hunk smirked as he recollect his thoughts and starts to stride down the hallways.
"Why are you up anyway?" Pidge asked, following him "Aren't you sick?"

"Yes." Hunk murmured softly as he continues on, the heat throbbing in his head "I have been bed-ridden with a fever for
three days and frankly I can't stand it! The more I stay, the more depressed I get, the more depressed, the more I want to -"

"Okay okay! I get it. I'll try to get Nanny off your back this morning!" Pidge replied
"Thanks!" Hunk smiled "C'mon let's get going, Keith will be ticked if we're late!"

~*~*~*~

"Hunk! What the hell are you doing up?" Keith says spitefully as Hunk and Pidge entered the mecha hangar. He remembered Hunk for the past few days being as sick as a dog, temperature at 103° Celsius, stomach flu and aching muscles. For the most
part he could hardly get out of bed, never less make it to training!

"I didn't want to stay in bed any longer." Hunk replied, scratching the back of his neck gingerly

"Are you sure you're able to practice today?" Allura asked, eagerly checking him to see if he was okay. She softly gasped
when her hand was gently swapped off his forehead by his fingertips, signalling that she's overdoing herself. "If you're positive
that you'll be able to train today, then by all means go on ahead... but don't be crawling to me when you have a relapse!"

"I won't Princess." Hunk smiled "You know me. I hardly get sick for very long!"
"Besides." Keith started with a smirk "If you were all like Hunk, you'd never miss practice even if you are sick!!"

The eyebrows upon Hunk's tanned forehead jumped when Allura, Lance and Pidge glared angrily at him, if looks could kill,
those faces would cause a massacre! He sighed and thought "Why couldn't I have stayed in bed?" following with a groan.
Then realizing the other three were still looking at him, he stuttered, "Hey why are you looking at me?!! -GET HIM!!"

"Oh Keeeithieeeee!" Allura giggled evilly, as three very twisted faces slowly turned 180 degrees at Keith.
"Oh crap!" Keith gulped, the hairs upon the back of his neck raising up as the trio was creeping towards him.
"You get the knife! I'll get the gun!" Pidge chuckled

A soft chuckle escaped from Hunk's lips as Keith's face turned white as a sheet, pivots around and starts running like a
headless chicken around the hangar with the Princess and the two pilots chasing after him. Obviously, the threat was empty, but the other three have been working hard for the past week since he was sick and as Keith mentioned "just in case Lotor tries to
attack", yeah... who's attacking who now? Hunk shook his head, still laughing as he walked into the locker room.

"What a bunch of nutcases!" He thought with a smile as he passed through the doorway. "Who would have know us
misfits would be the Defender of the universe!"

He tossed the clothes off to the side, and starts to undress himself, first with his shirt, revealing the leathery tan skin, the
braided muscles of his back, powerful shoulders, a set of biceps any man would envy and women would swoon over, along
with a deep set of pectorals and the rigid six pack extended from his slender bronze stomach all of which ends down to the
waistband of his pants that hung a little low, showing the muscle lines of his loins.

He looks down upon his bare flesh and then takes a glance at himself in the mirror upon the opposite wall, to a few people,
he does have the significant features of the godly Adonis, but usually that's what all people see in him. A muscle machine, the
brawn of the force, the mechanic. Never seeing past his looks, which sadly that factor brought about bad relationships, nothing
of his doing, he was attracting nothing but infatuation from women. There was some good ones, but it never lasted long. So he's usually a stag. Which is never a lot of fun when you're the only one. Sven and Romelle, Keith & Allura (even though they
repeatedly deny it) and now Pidge with the young soldier from Lunarus, Ryana Artemis, even Lance is having actual
relationships with some women, but knowing him it won't last. Meh! Lance is Lance.

It's been a while though since he's had some attention and frankly he misses it. But never less he shouldn't allow it to bother
him. Hunk sighs and returns to changing, slipping out of the remaining clothing and into his flightsuit, ignoring the shots of pain
along his arm and back. The Fever's heat still swarmed his head, the blood throbbing within his head when he pull himself up
too fast. He gave himself a minute for his body to calm down, leaning against the cool metal door. God, he hated being sick,
feels so useless while the others are off fighting.

"Ugh... Must get going." He muttered to himself as he slowly pulled himself upward. After a few seconds, the pulsing in his
head stopped. He sighed in relief, grabbed the helmet off the bench and walked out the room, where Yellow Lion was awaiting for his arrival.

"Ready to go big guy?" Pidge grinned
"I'm all set to go." Hunk replied, slipping the helmet over his head.
"Okay then. Let's go!" quipped Keith

The five space explorers climbed up their mechas and jumped in through the hatch. All was set and ready for action. Coran
and Ryana stood by in the control centre, while the Lions took speed and grabbed air as they jumped out of the hangars and
into the blue winter sky, like the graceful cats they are.

"Red lion ready for practice commander!" said Lance
"Blue lion is set!" replied Allura
"Green Lion is in stasis!" said Pidge
"Hunk? Do you read?" Keith spoke through the computer "Yellow Lion do you read?"

Meanwhile within the steel skeleton of the mighty yellow Lion, Hunk was bent over in his seat, his head hung in between his
knees breathing heavily, drops of cold sweat dripped along his face. The throbbing feeling on his head had returned and now it
was stronger than ever. "Hunk do you read me!!" Keith barked through the communicator.

"Y-yellow Lion is... ready..." Hunk wheezed
"Are you alright Hunk?" Allura asked
"Hold on lemme turn on the screen." says Keith

Before Keith could get a glimpse of his face, Hunk slammed his palm upon one of the buttons, locking the computer screen
from everyone. Allura found his behaviour to be very strange, Lance shrugged and murmured that maybe he's gone nuts. Pidge
and Keith on the otherhand wasn't too sure "Dammit Hunk turn on the screen!" growled Keith

"I'm FINE!!" Hunk yelled viciously "Let's just get on with this!"
"Not while you're sick!" said Allura
"To hell with my health! Let's practice already." Hunk snapped
"We refuse to move until you land Yellow Lion." Pidge said coldly

"Fine... Nobody wants to start, I'll have to take the initiative!" Hunk murmured to himself as he opened the compartment to
the special weapons unit. There he pressed a switch and smiled at the lions as he taunted. "I'll be the Doom ship and you guys
have to catch me! Ready, set, GO!!"

"Shit! He's using the cloaking device!" Pidge cursed as Yellow Lion faded into the sky.
"What the hell is going on?" a voice called out as Coran's face appeared on screen
"Hunk's gone nuts! The fever's gone to his head!" Lance replied
"Can't you do something?!!" snapped Coran

"We'll have to try and catch him." Keith replied back, as he reared Black lion higher into the air, keeping and eye out upon
the blur dodging in and out of clouds. "Besides...Hunk was asking for a fight. So he'll get one!"

After Keith made the move, Red, Blue and Green Lion followed suite. Sadly though it was very hard to track Yellow Lion
for the cloaking device disrupts all electronic communication in-between ships, which includes searching for his energy trails.
The only thing is that the part that mutes the sound was not working, luckily for them that Pidge was too lazy to go about fixing
it. So for most of the battle, they had to go --excuse the expression-- by ear.

"Hunk! I demand you to stop your lion right now!!" Keith yelled through the screen

For a few seconds there was no answer, suddenly there was static, and a very fuzzy picture of Hunk's face appeared on the
screen with a twisted look upon his face. "Come <zzzt!> catch <BZZZZZ!> me oh <zzzzt bbbzzztttt!> -less leader! Or
<zzztttt!> you <BZZZZZZZZ!> scared?"

"You wanna lay cat and mouse? Well here I come!!" Keith roared "Red, Green, Blue, follow me!"

The other three lions followed black, chasing after the ear bursting sound of Yellow Lion's jet engine. Hunk sat in the cockpit grinning evilly. This'll show 'em for keeping him inside the castle. Soon after a long time of chasing, the four lions were left
suspended in the air, they have lost the sound. "Damn! He's too far away!"

"Maybe not." Pidge whispered, he signalled them all to be quiet for the moment. Lance and Keith were clueless, but Allura
knew what he was gonna do. Since Hunk was nowhere to be found, Pidge was gonna feel him out using his telekinesis, even
though it was very weak compared to other Baltonians, it was still strong enough to figure out where Yellow Lion was.

Pidge stood still, closed his eyes and placed his fingertips upon his forehead. Take a deep breath and concentrated hard, as
the images of the lions' heads popped into his mind. Black, red, blue green. Black, red, blue, green. Black, red, blue, green.
(Where is yellow?) Black, red, blue, green. Black red blue yellow green. (What the hell?) Black red yellow blue green. Bla-

"Keith! Behind YOU!!" Pidge screamed

Black Lion, in a blink of an eye pivoted around and managed to dodge Yellow Lion's pounce. Keith then called out to the
others "Quick! Tie him up! Don't let him get away!!"

Red Lion opened it mouth and a energy net shot out, flying over and covering itself on Yellow Lion's head. The metal beast
shook angrily, which gave them a chance to cancel out the cloaking device. Black and Blue grabbed the net and held Yellow
tight while Green stood by as Pidge as trying to turn off the device by hacking into Yellow Lion's hardware. Soon success was
at their reach, there was a few electric pulses and the form of the mecha had formed again in the atmosphere. But something
went wrong.

The Lion suddenly felt limp and slipped through the net, falling towards the earth. Black, Red Blue and Green in a frenzy
raced towards Yellow trying to catch him. Luckily Allura and Keith created an energy net in between them, sped past Yellow
Lion and managed to snag it in the net and slowly land to the ground.

"What happened? Is Hunk okay?" Coran stuttered through the inter-com.
"I dunno! Something was wrong. Yellow Lion suddenly stopped!!" replied Pidge.

After they landed their lions, the voltron force jumped out and sped towards to where Yellow Lion layed on it's side. Keith
Lance and Pidge grabbed the hatch and slowly pulled it open. Allura screamed and the others gasped when the pilot fell out of
the cockpit and onto the ground. The pupils of his eyes were dilated, chest breathing in quick ragged motion, his face drenched
with sweat, the veins popping out from the side of his forehead. It looked as if the excitement from the chase was too much for Hunk. "Quick! Go get the doctor!!" Keith screeched

"On my way!" replied Lance as he raced towards the castle.
"Hunk! Are you okay? Can you hear me?" Allura muttered, frantically shaking his shoulder "Hunk?"

Unfortunately their voices did not reach the Yellow pilot's ears, his mind was buzzing, and was feeling very dizzy, the nausea
churching around in his stomach. Soon everything around him was turning black and spinning until everything was a blur and
eventually nothing at all. Except for the sound of Allura's frantic cries echoing in his head....