Status Quo
Chapter Twenty-Three: Sandestorme Unleashed
by Kyence

Disclaimer: All Voltron characters are property of World Events Productions.

‘’ denote character thoughts.
 

"Pulsar Cannon!" Keith shouted as Black Lion fired a powerful shot into the Hydra's maw. He had expected it to roar and respond in an animalistic manner like Hagar's prior robeasts always had. This particular model did not cry nor bellow, nor relinquish its coiled hold on Blue Lion. 'No! Allura!' Keith thought in a panicked frenzy. 'You have only been in this battle for a moment and you are already in danger!'

"Screw this," Lance cursed as he activated Red Lion's flame. With a leonic roar, a stream of blazing fire gushed forward, casting a fiery sheen on the Hydra's metallic frame. It engulfed the section just above the incarcerating coil. The intense heat of this constant spew soon denatured the enzymes in the structure. The crushing coils loosened from the lack of commands, allowing Allura's opportunistic escape.

"Thanks, Lance," Allura gratefully spoke.

"Don't thank me yet, Princess," he replied cynically. "That attack used up most of my energy. I can't pull that off again."

As the Hydra's temperature cooled, the enzymes reconfigured to their original structures, an interesting effect rarely, if ever, found in Nature. However, the robotic serpent did not resort to repeating its previous strategy. Instead, its eyes shot out a pair of green beams, blasting into Red Lion's torso. "Arrgh!" Lance groaned as his cockpit clattered and the lights dimmed until all he could see was a green halo surrounding the exterior. His darkness was alleviated when an electric current surged through the interior and incidentally through the pilot. Lance squinted as his teeth chattered. His lower jaw rattled from the amps.

Green Lion entered the foray without warning. It latched onto the base of the Hydra's neck with its extended claws, powerfully piercing through the enzymatic matrix, providing an unshakable anchor for Pidge. The Lion's jaw weapon, a knife, was already generated. Pidge aimed directly for the Hydra's optics. The double-edged knife plunged mightily into the orbits, damaging the robeast's offensive gaze. Lance rebounded from his electrical pain, springing out of reach. The Hydra seemed to react in a lifelike manner now, thrashing its head to and fro in a vain attempt to dislodge the Green Lion.

"I owe ya," Lance thanked Pidge, "but where's Hunk? We need Voltron, and fast!"

"Well, the Yellow Lion's forepaw was severed, and he ran after Ana…" Pidge explained in labored clauses interspersed with pauses from the shuffling his body made in the seat.

"Wait, I thought Ana was with you," Lance's confused voice asked for clarity.

"She was, but she made me let her out to see if Hunk was okay. He was, and then she made me leave without her."

"How convenient," Lance drawled as he crossed his arms and grimaced.

"Can we assume Hunk will rejoin us soon?" Keith interrupted the volley. His tone was appropriate for the situation, namely that it was not the time for lengthy conversations.

'I hope so,' Pidge worried, but answered with a more delicate optimism. "Any minute now…"

Ana intently used the shadows to her advantage as she neared the throne room. Her face bore no expression. Her stride was light, her arms tense, ready for action. She kept the blades ingenerated for the moment, lest she lose the element of surprise. This was crucial to her success. After these months of undercover life as an Arusian maid, her skills would be put to this great task.

"Mrrrooowwww," a bodiless voice moaned behind her. She turned around, her right sword coming to life as she sliced empty air. There was no one behind her. She sniffed the air, trying to detect a living presence by scent. There was an odor, and it was directly beneath her feet. She looked down. A blue cat was sitting up on its hind legs, blinking its yellow eyes.

"Mrrow?" Coba mewed to her. Ana hunched, narrowing her eyes. "Shai Sayenne, is that you?" she inquired with a smirk.

'Everyone wants to be me, I know,' Coba answered as he yawned. 'Too bad for you that I found you. Now my witch knows you are here. Good luck, you will certainly need it.' He rubbed himself on her legs as he meowed goodbye. He sprinted off ahead to the throne room. Ana shook her head at her foolish assumption that Shai could possibly make herself as small as that creature.

A magical web materialized from a distant corner, trapping her within its glowing pink threads. She groaned as she struggled against them, gnashing her teeth. She heard a cackle emanate from the same corner. She lifted her head, fiercely demanding, "Who is there?!" Hagar continued to chuckle as she stepped forward, her mottled green face full of malicious glee. "Oh dearie, it looks like I have caught a spirited young woman…but what are you really?" the powerful enchantress snickered.

"So it begins," Ana whispered, lowering her head. Her eyes closed, she tugged on the web with all of her physical strength. The magic would not give so easily, slicing into her flesh like glass shards. She grunted, but would not abate. She called upon her own magic, her techniques of Affinity, summoning the planet's magma miles beneath her feet. It shot up around her, melting the web with ease. Hagar shielded her eyes, using her staff to form a protective bubble around her and Coba, who had since decided to stay around and watch the spectacle. When Hagar looked back, the human known as Ana was no longer before her. Instead, Ana had used the distraction to transform into her true form. Her dark red scales still bled from the wounds Hagar's magic had inflicted. The skin about her neck was flattened in the manner of a cobra ready to inject its venom. Various tattoo markings formed distinctive patterns on the arms her true form retained, albeit longer and more sinuous. However, much like a serpent, there were no legs. What clothes she had been wearing as Ana had been burned away; now, only the Arydican Veneer Sandestorme remained.

"Shai Sayenne, no matter what form you take, it is futile. You will perish," Sandestorme pronounced her intent as her weapons blazed to full power.

Hagar's laugh was hearty enough to worry her. "You think that I am Shai?" she giggled as she pointed to herself. "My my my, that is something…"

Sandestorme's eyes narrowed. "Enough!" She began her attacks, slicing the air with her swords, targeting Hagar's force field. None of her slashes weakened the shield, and Hagar's constant cackling only added to her chagrin.

"Is that all you have, naga?" Hagar spat. Her insult was retorted with a volcanic eruption two yards away, as Sandestorme retreated and summoned. She raised her hands to the ceiling, the lava following suit. "Nnnnnnnnnnnnnngh! Lake of Tectonic," she invoked in Arydican, lowering her arms to her eye level, commanding the molten earth to rush linear at Hagar. The power of the spell was more than Hagar had anticipated as it started eating through her barrier. Hagar increased her protective barrier with additional spells, calling on any water molecules present in the air to counter the fire aspect of the attack. 'Okay, Shai, feel free to join the fun,' she thought impatiently.

An invisible blur distorting a small area of vision rushed across Sandestorme. She grunted as her throat bled from a quintet of cuts. With a quick thought, she generated small projections from her shoulders, wrapping around her neck to provide pressure. Her focus was lost, and the magma dropped to the ground, melting a trench in the floor. "So…you were a Veneer once…" she realized as Shai's body faded into sight as a large panther shape. A golden vest analogous to her levitating cape covered her ribcage and back. The absence of cloth in this form was no anomaly; Shai always wore organic cloths or flexible polymers that could be temporarily rearranged during her shifts to provide extra mass and protection. Shai's ears had a distinctive quality that merged caracal and elf anatomy. Her eyes now possessed a more pronounced almond shape than usual. Her brilliant blue fur was as dense as her horns were missing, and a biologist would notice that the Felinis had opposable digits as well. Her poise was an imminent pounce. Sandestorme extended her right arm. Stretching an inconceivable amount in human terms, it resembled rubber's capacity to be pulled. Her finger extended along with her nails, becoming long daggers as she swiped at Shai.

Shai adeptly avoided the attack, her movements quicker in this state 'I must also be more careful ,' she reminded herself. 'My body can take very little damage in this shape. But, my magic is also its strongest now.' Her eyes took on a blue nimbus as she chanted in an ancient tongue that only Hagar, also possessing Felinis blood, was schooled in. A corresponding azure mist appeared about Sandestorme. A portal began as a twinkle several feet above Sandestorme's head, quickly enlarging into a massive spiritual gateway. Glints of spirits' eyes and ghostly hands were visible in fleeting glimpses, twisting about her in a spinning vortex that emerged from the portal. Sandestorme refused to scream as the mist cut and pierced her body, ripping chunks of scaled skin with each revolution. She focused once more on the molten energy exposed from her earlier invocation, which formed a shell around her as it cooled. The steam from the cooling blocked the spirits' path.

Shai began a different chant, dismissing the mist. Her medley changed its tempo again as she implored more powerful spirits to send their aid. The portal above Sandestorme still persisting after the mist floated into it, dilated. Swirling metaphysical beings of a million unique colors to the Universe could be seen frolicking in the vast dimension the gateway led to. Blue drops, sharp as dirks, rained on the shield with hurricane force. Tiny cracks appeared in the shell, which germinated into long faults and crevices. The shell soon crumbled. Sandestorme rolled out towards Shai. Her arms had retracted to their usual length, but the boundary of where her hands ended and the sword hilts began was absent. Indeed, the fusion was a smooth transition from skin and muscle to four energy blades. Arching her back, craning her body several times Shai's present height, she thrust in vigorous succession. Shai dodged most of the stabs, but one grazed her hind legs. Not willing to suffer further from this modus operandi, she leaped onto Sandestorme's arms before launching into the air. She punched her in the face as she quickly landed in her Sapientydan form. Now at eye level, she could see the surprise in her opponent's eyes, and she knew the advantage was hers. Shai's palms generated spikes, adding more damage to her slaps as she cut the Veneer's face into a garish display of blood. Sandestorme grunted as her defenses failed. She faltered, pulling back. With one eye opened, she was sure death was upon her as Shai's wrists birthed gigantic spines. She saw them slice upward at her, and she painfully felt the projections covering her hurt neck falling away. Sandestorme collapsed onto the floor, twitching and clutching the crumbled remains of her lava shell. Shai transformed into her normal state of a hybrid between the two extremes she had wielded in this battle. The transition was smooth and silent with the exception of the subtle movement of skin and tendons beneath it.

"You never fail to impress me, Shai," Hagar clapped her praise. A nude Shai gingerly touched the wound on her leg, its blood staining her cape and chiton that clothed her now. 'A shame Zarkon's healing is sealed,' she sighed. Wincing, she then gestured to the fallen Sandestorme. "I think you could have handled her yourself. I believe you have gotten stronger in your years her in the Denubian. Now, to deal the final blow…" the hairs on her back tingled as her ear flicked back. She sensed a form to the side. "Hagar! There's another attacker!"

Hagar also sensed the power and fired a huge orb of light from her staff to block the adversary's trajectory. It exploded with a blinding light that rendered eyes useless for several seconds. 'Well, that was unexpected; that bordered on positronic,' Hagar pondered. When eyesight was restored, both spell-sisters saw that the Arydican had vanished without even a pool of blood to hint she been there at all.

"Saoche! What are you doing here, traitor!" Hunk shouted at her.

"Shut the hell up, this ain't the time," she dismissed his anger with an innocuous flick of her claws. "I'm on your side. Ask Allura; she was controlled by Shai and so was I…hey, that rhymed," she tapped her lower jaw as she considered the random event.

Hunk saw the floating body behind the avian and scrunched his eyebrows together. "Ummm…who is that?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But, she's hurt real bad and needs medical care. You have emergency supplies, right? I can telekinetically keep pressure on her wounds and keep her alive, but barely, until we get to Arus…I think…but that does depend on how fast you can get us back to the others so you can form Voltron and get us the hell outta here!" Saoche howled as she flew up into Hunk's face.

"I'm not leaving until I find Ana," Hunk said defiantly. He crossed his arms.

"Look, I ain't gonna stall for time this gal doesn't have," Saoche bellowed. "Look, what if I told you I already found Ana, and Hagar cast a spell on her, cursing her to be a snake that is now hovering behind me!! Will that have you move your ass?!"

"Ana?' Hunk whispered in disbelief. The voice that replied with his name was deeper and unlike his Ana's voice. He inched closer to the badly wounded being, looking down upon the slashed face. "Ana?" he reiterated. His eyes met an empty gaze; if he did not see the chest move, he would have thought she had expired. "It is you, isn't it Ana?"

"Proof enough? Can we go now, please? I'm keeping her systems at bare minimum, so leave the poetry for the hospital bed on Arus, 'kay?" Saoche prodded. Hunk nodded silently, hoisting Sandestorme in his arms. "Thanks, that gives me more resources to allocate to her condition," she chirped.

"Follow me." He looked down at the reptilian face. "Ana, I don't know what happened to you, but please live so you can tell me…" He raced to where his three-pawed Yellow Lion waited, sending it into maximum speed as soon as all were aboard. He used his console devices to locate the other Lions, silently thanking his luck in piloting the fastest Lion.

Continued

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