riverviewlogs | Trek to the Portal

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Trek to the Portal

who: Keith, Shiro
what: Exploration, trying to investigate the portal, but they get interrupted by something else from home.
when: This week
where: Out and about in the woods surrounding the city
warnings: None at the moment

Keith had gathered together some supplies. After their last trek into the woods to that temple, he had a better idea of what to expect and what they might need. Even with their armor, it didn't hurt to have a bag with supplies. Carrying it could prove interesting if they needed to use the jetpacks for anything, but they could figure that out when the time came... if the time came.

He headed upstairs to Shiro's floor. They hadn't moved out of the community building, yet, but it had definitely gone up in priority since the fire. But, there were still other things that were important. Investigating the fact that Allura had been there before them and had apparently disappeared was pretty high on the list, too, and was definitely more important than finding a private place to live.

He poked his head in the door from the elevator lobby, then knocked before calling out.

"Hey, Shiro. You ready?"

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Keith nodded.

"I downloaded their map into my armor using that trick Pidge showed us," he said. Tapping on the red section over his left wrist, the projection of the local area came up over it. It showed the perimeter of the town with a heavy solid line, a black dot and a red dot showing their respective locations (right next to each other near that line), and an 'x' for the portal (off in the distance). "Hopefully, it won't be hard to get to," he said. "It looks like there's a route along here we can take." A few more taps, and a winding path through the woods came up on the screen.

Shiro leaned over to look at the projection that came up when Keith activated it, studying the map. Seemed pretty straight forward. Of course once leaving the city there wasn't much there so there wasn't a lot for them to be distracted. Yes, there were some ruined cities, but that wasn't the point of this trek. They'd already seen that might take more than two people to accomplish depending on what was living there.

"Yeah it does. We can try that route and see where we go and what information we can find. Good job."

He'd head over in that direction once Keith was ready to go.

Following the map, Keith started off with Shiro, heading into the woods. The path was pretty well defined, considering the number of times it had probably been traversed since the portals had opened. There were a pretty decent number of people around, and, between the coming and going of new arrivals and residents returning home, it wasn't hard to see which way they went. After a while, Keith shut off the projection. They didn't really need it unless to make a decision at a split along the way.

Shiro noticed how well worn the path was as well. It made perfect sense. The portals weren't exactly isolated or unused. People were arriving, people were leaving so it was well traveled.

Of course people weren't the only things that came through the portal and Shiro was keeping eyes and ears peeled for anything that sounded unusual. The last thing they needed was for something to come around the corner and attack them. They had their armor yes, but that still would have been bad.

Funny that... just as one started to really think about something, it was almost always bound to happen. As they got closer to the portal (it was slightly visible in the distance now), a large growl could be heard off to their right. It was one of the strange lion/alligator things they had come across on their way to the temple shortly after they had arrived. Keith had both his weapons out in a literal flash to defend against it as it charged in towards them.

Oop, sorry Keith. You could blame Shiro for that thought crossing his mind.

Shiro had could see the portal in the distance, but the growl got his attention, noticing the same creature that they had seen when they had been helping to go after that deity. It had been surprising before, but now was pretty much par for the course. Shiro immediately freed up his right hand, waiting to see if it would come for them, ready to activate his arm at any moment.

Keith grit his teeth as the creature charged. It reared up at them, and Keith went low, jabbing forward with his bayard at its exposed underbelly.

Shiro's hand activated as the creature reared up at them. Keith was quicker though on the draw and nailed it his bayard. Shiro however didn't let his guard down and when it tried to fight away from Keith, Shiro nailed it with his Galra hand.

"There's probably more of them out there."

"Probably."

Keith didn't put his weapons away just yet, but the noise of the first creature had hidden the noise of a second, and Keith was blindsided by another attack. He hit the ground hard, and his Marmora blade fell from his grip. He managed to keep hold of the bayard, though, and brought it up defensively, the creature biting down on that as Keith held it between them.

There was a sudden roar from the woods, and a thin blue laser shot out from the woods, hitting the creature in the back. It fell forward, on top of Keith, pinning him there for a moment, and there was a sudden loud crashing sound from where the laser had come from. A blur of bright red, and a "miniature", for lack of a better term, Red Lion of Voltron was suddenly dragging the creature off Keith by clamping her jaws around it's foreleg.

"Keith!"

As the second creature came crashing out of the woods, knocking Keith to the ground, Shiro immediately leapt forward with the intent to stop it as the creature began biting Keith's bayard. He was nearly upon it when there was a loud sound from the forest nearby - was that a roar? - and the creature collapsed.

What had just happened was still processing when that red blur leapt out of the forest and began to drag the creature off Keith. That... that was definitely the Red Lion. But significantly smaller. No less protective of Keith though...

Another sound and Shiro glanced back into the forest. The darkness of the forest might have hidden it completely, but the glowing, unblinking yellow eyes staring back at him with the familiar glowing blue markings were telling even if it hadn't come out yet.

"Oh... quiznak."

There was more crunching through the trees as if something else were approaching them, but then the Black Lion stepped out and roared in the direction of whatever seemed to be lurking around. If Shiro didn't know better, he would say Black was trying to put itself between the forest and the paladins.

Keith barely managed to push the creature off, even with Red's help. He stared, wide-eyed, as he slowly sat up. Once Red was sure the creature wasn't going to attack again, she came over and nudged Keith from behind.

"Woah..." She almost knocked him back over. "Hey... easy there." She purred at him, a deep rumbling sound, and he brought his hand up to place it on her forehead. "You're so small..." He wrapped his arm around her head as she leaned down to put it on his shoulder from behind, and looked over as the Black Lion emerged from the forest, also scaled down in size. Not that it wasn't still a massive robot, but no where near as large as normal.

"They're so small..." As the threat of the creatures seemed to fade off for the time being, and the Lions slowly started to relax, Keith started to pick up on the general sense of confusion. Red was maybe even a little nervous. What had happened to them?

Shiro was getting that too; they were confused, probably just as confused as the paladins if not more. Black, having chased away the threat at least temporarily, came over to Shiro, ducking its head to nudge his shoulder. Shiro wrapped his arm around the lion's neck as it practically rested its head against his shoulder.

"They are small... insanely small for them. How... how did this happen?"

He was getting a vague general feeling of traveling through the portal because of needing to take care of something, but it was hard to tell even so. Had the lions chosen to come through the portal on their own because they were in trouble? Well didn't that just take the cake for Red being overprotective if it were true.

"I think we need to post-pone the trip to the portal. Get them back to the city."

"Yeah..." As worried as Keith was about Allura, this kind of threw a wrench in things. But then, maybe not? He remembered something Coran said shortly after they found the Castle. "Wait... the Lions are all connected to Allura. They'd know if she was here, wouldn't they?" Red gave Keith a nudge, as if he was on to something, but it was still a pretty strong nudge, and he lost his balance. "Wooaahh..." He caught himself before he fell over. "Easy, Red."

"That's a good point. They are connected to her and she to them. If she were here, the lions would be able to tell. I'm not really getting anything that tells me they can sense Allura here. You?"

He couldn't help a chuckle as Red nudged him, almost knocking him over.

"I guess they really don't know their own strength." As Black shifted around and bumped Shiro he almost fell as well. "Nope, they really don't know their own strength."

Keith shook his head.

"Red says she doesn't."

All things considered, that was probably the best answer they were going to get. If Allura wasn't actually in Riverview, then there wasn't much more they could do. Even if she had pushed her luck with the portal and ended up some weird place, they might not be able to go find her.

"I just hope she got home."

"I don't think we're going to get anything more conclusive than that. If they can't sense her, then it's likely she's not here. They found us after all. I hope she got home too."

There was a moment of silence from the group as Shiro thought about the best course of action. The rustling in the woods around them and crunching of leaves on the ground quite easily convinced him as Black looked up again, eyes turning towards the spot the sound had come from.

"We should go back to the city."

If she wasn't here the remaining trek was pointless and if the creatures were out, they may not be as well prepared as they thought.

Red had also focused in sharply on the sound, but didn't leave Keith's side. Her stance, though, was much more aggressive than Black's. Keith looked over there, wondering what they could see. He kind of wished he could see the sensor readout in the cockpit right about now.

"Yeah... good idea."

He got up, now that Red wasn't attempting to stand over him anymore, and gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. That was weird, having her small enough that her shoulders were just around his hip, and he could easily just rest his hand on her back without a problem.

She moved with him, a lot like a very well-trained military dog, staying right next to him.

Shiro wondered as well what the lions were looking at, but whatever it was seemed to be hesitating with one robot lion in an aggressive stand and the other standing almost the full height of the human it was next to. They seemed to be in pretty much a stand off with whatever was in the forest.

As they started off back towards the city, Black stayed nearby Shiro as well before falling behind slightly. When Shiro looked back, he could see the larger lion making sure whatever it was wasn't following them before catching up with them.

Seemed to make sense, based on what he had seen of the lions acting on their own. Black had seemed to be the guarding them when the first robeast arrived, putting itself deliberately even in front of Green.

Since Black wasn't lagging, but periodically stopping to watch for anything, Shiro chose to keep up with Keith and Red, knowing Black wouldn't be far behind.

With Black watching the rear, Red was keeping an eye ahead. Still on edge, Keith had kept his bayard in his hand, though he did deactivate the blade part of it for now. He was going to feel that tackle later, but nothing major. Another reason Red was staying close, though, and Keith could tell she was trying to make sure he was okay.

Thankfully, the two very large robot lions kept most of the other creatures at bay for now. Black was a pretty intimidating presence. Though, the gate guards were curious upon their return. Red was wary of everyone, being protective. However, the fact that Keith seemed to remain calm and was familiar with most of the people they ran into in town on their way back to the apartments kept her from getting too riled up about all the attention.

Shiro made his way back down, leading as much as possible. Probably the only reason he was really able to was because Red wa staying closer to Keith. He had a feeling if the lion ran full tilt, he wouldn't have a chance. This was further proven when Black quickly closed the distance with them as they neared the city walls. Yep, even the slower Black lion was able to catch up. No way beating Red if she really wanted to go.

Black was also weary as they entered the city, standing close to Shiro, practically leering at the guards over the Black Paladin's shoulder. So it was a good thing both Keith and Shiro continued to act like this was normal as they headed back to the apartments.

One problem Shiro realized when they neared the building.

"No clue how to get Black up to Floor 15."

"Hm."

Keith stood there with him, staring at the building as they walked towards it.

"Yeah... they're not exactly lightweight, and, well... even at this size, Black is pretty big. I'm not sure if it would fit into the elevator or up the stairs, either. Red might be able to handle the stairs, but..." He shrugged a little.

"There had been that space where Hana had kept her mech in the garage, but..." Keith looked down at Red. He was reluctant to even suggest it, but it would do temporarily, at least, right? They'd be out of the weather if things got crazy. "With them having more autonomy, it seems almost cruel to leave them in there, doesn't it?"

Shiro was considering the same thing. The stairs might be possible for Red, but they'd be more awkward for Black. No one would be able to pass the lion on the stairs. The elevator was probably right out, breaking all the weight limits that they had for an elevator. He didn't even want to try it.

Keith's mention of the parking spot reminded him of Hana's, but it seemed... weird to think about sticking the lion in a parking garage.

"Yeah, it does. They are vehicles in our world yes, but they are acting more alive than they did then." Black came over to rest its head on Shiro's shoulder as though reacting to the comment. "Well, it would be temporary or we might be able to get Black as far as Floor 2 and he could stay with you. Either way, we need to step looking for a new place... and this changes the requirements."

"We can try." Keith shrugged. He was willing to do that much at least. "There's a bit more room lately. A few people have left." Plus, he knew the Black Lion at least trusted him, even if he wasn't the Black Paladin. Black had let him in once before to save Shiro from those dinosaur things, so he knew the Lion would stay put with him if Shiro asked.

With that seemingly decided, Red bounded ahead, stopping at the doors to look back at them, her tail curved up into the air.

Shiro walked over to the building, Black following behind him. He chuckled at the fact that Red and raced ahead. "Looks like Red is anxious to see the new place."

She probably didn't actually need them to open the door, being strong enough and fast to probably get through on her own. But it was a good idea that she didn't get in the habit of simply pushing her way outside or inside. If nothing else, robot lion being on it own in the city wasn't the best thing.

When he reached the door, Shiro opened it.

Red stepped in as Shiro opened the door, and her metal paws immediately slid on the tile floor. She didn't fall, which probably would cracked the tile, but she did leave a few scratches where she used her claws to keep her legs from going out from under her. Keith cringed a little as he opened the other door to see if Black could even just fit in the front, let alone get up the stairs.

"Yeah... you're not going to be able to race around in here, okay?"

Red rumbled at him in response, sounding almost disappointed that she had to be careful.

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