“P-Pidge?” The Brain gasped, staring at the grinning face of the Green Lion pilot that had just blinked up on his viewer. “How-“

“You’re in the clear, kiddo. Go get Antonio and then blow this thing so we can all go home!”

“Check!” The Brain replied curtly. “Cheddar! You’re in command of the ship until I return.” Without further ado, he guided the head of the Big Suit near the hole, opened his hatch door and jumped into the bowels of the beast.

As his vision adjusted to the dark, The Brain saw he was now standing in a large compartment that looked like a cargo area. It appeared to be empty. Appearances could be deceiving, however, so his bloodshot gaze continued to scan every nook and cranny above and below him for a flash of white in the gloom. Nothing.

There was only one other way. Desperately hoping that his voice would not activate any security mechanisms, The Brain cried out. “PINKY! WHERE ARE YOU?”

‘You-you- you-you...’ His shout bounced around the hollow innards of the monster. There was no reply.

The Brain felt a cold stab of fear pierce his heart.

Had he been wrong? Was Pinky already-

A familiar rattling noise suddenly pricked his sensitive ears. Charging forward, he found a well concealed opening that on closer inspection appeared to be sort of a tube. Sounds and a pinpoint of light were coming from the end of the passage.

Taking a deep breath, The Brain dropped to all fours and scuttled down the small tunnel. The noise grew steadily louder as he approached the light, and in just a few seconds, he found himself at the entrance to a circular room, which was filled with wires, glowing computer panels and, in the middle, an oversized exercise wheel whose rapid spinning was obviously the source of the noise.

“Anto- I mean, Pinky! Is that you?” The Brain exclaimed, as he climbed out of the tunnel, and stood up. He craned his neck, trying to get a good look at the pale blur that was frantically propelling the giant wheel.

“Hi...Brain! Can’t...stop... tochat... Lotorsaid... nobreaks... hurtme...” Pinky’s jiggling voice replied breathlessly.

“But-but I’m - we’re here to save you from him!”

“Narf! You... are? Princess... too?”

The Brain grimaced. “Yes, the Princess too, although she needs saving herself right now. Lotor has her cornered.”

“NO! That’s... awful! Whatever... shall... we do?” Pinky panted.

“Well for one thing, stop spinning that wheel.” His genius friend suggested dryly.

“But I’m hooked.... the power...all me... wires.... electrodes... doohickeys. If... I stop... whole...thing...stops.”

The Brain gaped incredulously at the blurry mouse shape. “And the problem with that would be...?”

“E-gads... can’t... believe you... dunno...an’ I do!” Pinky huffed and puffed. “It... big problem... Lotor’s plan... take Arus... Princess... failure if...go boom! Zort!”

“Pinky, if you were anyone else, I’d think you were brainwashed.” The Brain rolled his eyes. “Your unquestioning devotion to duty is admirable, but misguided. Let me remind you that as a devoted fan of the Voltron Force and the Princess herself, you want the RoBeast to fall down and ‘go boom’. You want Lotor’s scheme to fail just like ours always do; otherwise, the good guys would all be gone and what would be the point of the show?”

For a few seconds there was no response, as the sprinting Pinky mulled over the situation. Finally he spoke, elation in his voice.

“Egads, you’re.... rightagain... Brain!”

The wheel slowed, as its occupant reduced his speed to a mere crawl, and eventually came to a halt. The Brain quickly moved forward to disconnect Pinky from his evil giant twin.

“Pinky, what are you doing?” An eerily calm voice spoke as wires were yanked, and connections severed. “Stop Pinky, I know what you are doing. King Friday will not permit it. We are neighbors. There is no one else like you. It’s such a good feeling to keep you inside....” The smooth voice babbled on and on.

“We must hurry through the tunnel now, we haven’t much time and the Princess must be saved!” The Brain said urgently, as he ripped away the last of the wires from his wincing friend. “To the Big Suit!”

The disembodied voice had started to warble. “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a neighborly day in this beauty wood, would you be mine? Could you beeeeemiiiinnnneeewaaaaarrrr...” The mechanical speech slowed and then was still.

“Poit! Righto!” Pinky responded, snapping a salute. He shot to his feet, and then took only a few steps before collapsing onto his back. He blinked up at his rescuer with a dazed expression.

“I think I may have overdone it on the exercise, Brain.“ His blue eyes were filling with tears.

The Brain smiled kindly. “Never mind, my friend. I’ll get us both out of here, we’re not quitting now, not after all we’ve been through together!” He declared, with more assurance than he felt. “If you can get yourself into the tunnel behind me, I can drag you. Can you do that for me?”

“I can.” Pinky stated with determination, while wiping his eyes.

The Brain dropped to all fours and leapt into the passageway.

Pinky struggled to flip himself over and finally succeeded. He then dragged himself inch by painful inch across the two feet of floor before the tunnel. Once there, he reached for The Brain’s outstretched paws and heaved himself into the enclosure; as he did so, the creature began to list from front to back.

“I may not have to drag you after all!” The Brain shouted as they began to move.

Sure enough, as the PinkyBeast swayed backwards, the tunnel floor went on incline, becoming a slide to freedom. The two mice coasted rapidly to the opposite end, landing with a thud in the Beast’s outer hull.

The Brain stood up and quickly grabbed Pinky’s arms. Grunting and straining, he pulled the much larger mouse to the opening and waved at his on- looking crew and Green Lion, before heaving Pinky upwards and dumping him through the hatch to the Big Suit. He followed, almost missing the opening as the RoBeast lurched violently to the side.

Leaving the exhausted Pinky lying on the floor of the cockpit, the Braintron Captain picked himself up, lunged for his chair and opened a channel to his crew.

“I’ve got him, team! And now...bombs away!” He bellowed, flipping the yellow switch.

The hand with the bomb extended once more. This time, however, The Brain waited for the secondary lighter hand to extend and light the fuse, then shove the bomb into the RoBeast’s backside. Both appendages shook hands and then speedily retracted.

There was a huge roar as Hagar’s creation somehow realized the danger to its circuitry and the Braintron team waited breathlessly to see if their explosive would be expelled. They breathed happy sighs, when in true Pinky fashion, the staggering and swaying monster did them a favor by clapping a hand over the hole in its backside, keeping the bomb from rolling out.

“She’s away!” The Brain cried. “Warn the team to clear out, this is going to be messy!”

“I copy, John!” Keith’s voice quickly answered. “Pidge notified me of your success. Lance and Hunk are free, the Beast let them go just a minute ago. Join us at the front, we need to make sure he falls backwards.”

“Affirmative. Brain out.”

The Big Suit shot upwards behind Green Lion, skimming across the tips of the PinkyBeast’s horns, then down to where Black, Red and Yellow Lions held formation near the monstrosity’s pelvis.

“The Princess and Lotor are still in Blue Lion. We must keep the beast from falling on her.” Keith stated grimly. “On my mark, we will launch and knock it flat on its...uh, butt. John, you and your crew fly down and try to stall Lotor.”

“Will do, Captain!”

The four lions pounced and succeeded in knocking the pathetically wailing monster on its bum. A massive explosion of lazon soon followed and drowned out the wailing. The men of the Voltron Force watched as the RoMouse’s head imploded, sending the two green horns flying in opposite directions and the collar spinning into the air and out of sight, before another tremendous blast finished the job. Billows of orange and red smoke billowed into the atmosphere, along with the little bits and pieces that were left of the RoBeast formerly known as ‘Antonio’.

“Your do-gooder friends may have gotten your pet back, and destroyed my creation, but I still have what I came for,” Lotor sneered, tightening his grip on the struggling Princess. He dragged her roughly out of her lion, and then jerked her in front of him to serve as a human shield.

“Sniveling coward!” She spat. “And by the way- you really smell-what’s your cologne? Eau de Fumes?”

Behind the defiant Princess, the ochre eyes narrowed. “You will pay for that insult later.” He raised his sword to a place just under her up-thrust chin. “Now start moving toward that hovercraft over there. Nice and easy, yes, that’s a good girl.”

As they approached the craft , a human-size suit with the head, hands and feet of mouse heads lowered itself to stand between Lotor and the transport.

The Brain’s calm voice addressed them. “It’s all over, Lotor. Surrender now and you will not be harmed.”

“What’s this? Some kind of joke?” The Prince guffawed. “What a ridiculous-looking piece of space junk!”

Inside the cockpit the Captain of the Braintron Force was quietly fuming “Can’t say much for your mode of transport either,” He snapped back. “For your information, this piece of space junk just succeeded in rescuing Antonio and destroying your hideous monster.”

“Antonio- he’s safe?” The Princess cried exultantly.

In the back of the cockpit Pinky sat up and glanced questioningly at The Brain, who nodded his assent. “Yes, dear Princess, I’m all snugly safe now, thanks to all of you.” He called to her. “I can’t believe the Force all did this just for me. I am so very grateful and not worthy of such an honor.”

The Brain’s eyebrows shot up as his companion wiped away a tear. Pinky had delivered his speech without so much as a ‘poit’, a ‘narf’ or even a ‘zort’.

“Oh Antonio, it’s so wonderful to hear you speak, and of course you were worth it.” Allura responded happily. “You have a beautiful voice. I love it, and you too. I know now that we will win and when we do, I promise I will give you a nice kiss on the cheek.”

Pinky’s coloring now matched his name. “Th-thank you, Princess.” He stuttered, poitlessly.

“Interesting... very interesting.” The Brain muttered, rubbing his tiny chin thoughtfully. Pinky’s irritating verbal tics were gone- at least for the moment. The big headed mouse sighed a tad wistfully. He always had heard that love could work miracles; he just hadn’t believed it until now.

However, Lotor was not impressed. He laughed. “So you love him, my Princess? Well, that’s very touching, Allura, but I think I have a quite a lot more to offer.” He pressed his hard body up against her and since the Prince was a very tall man, she could feel his swelling proportions grinding against the small of her back. She struggled briefly, but the sword at her neck held her in place. She stopped fighting and merely stood upright, her face turned away in shame.

“Move that piece of trash or Allura gets it, here and now,” the Doomian purred. “Oh, and inform the rest of those overgrown tin kitties that they had better stay in their litter box.”

The Braintron Captain opened his mouth to warn the others.

“We heard him, John.” Keith cut in, as his head and shoulders blipped up on the viewer. His eyes were as hard and as dark as obsidian and his jaw was clenched. “We’ll stay put-for now.”

Pinky was hopping mad. “He’s being so awful to her, Brain, and there’s nothing Keith can do. Ooh, I hate Lotor!”

Cheddar, Cheesy, Sukey and Inky chattered their outrage over the comm.

“Yes,” The Brain replied, his scowl deepening. “She’s a genuinely nice person, and unfortunately, nice people always seem to get taken advantage of.”

“Oh... if anything happens to her...” Pinky’s voice trailed off sadly. “You know, Brain, as long as I live, I will never forget those hours I spent licking envelopes with her, and doing silly willy things to cheer her up because-“ He stopped abruptly, his blue eyes widening in amazement as an actual idea popped into his head. “That’s it!”

The Brain frowned fiercely. “What’s it, Pinky?”

“I know how she can get away!”

“But-“

It was too late for protests. Pinky had shoved his Skipper aside and taken charge of the comm. “Oh, Princess!”

“Are you moving now?” Lotor yelled back, tightening his hold on Allura.

“Yes, but first, may I say goodbye to the Princess?” Pinky asked, trying to sound as pitiful as possible.

“Certainly, as you are the reason I have her now. I guess I owe you something for that. Good work Antonio, you furry little peon!” The Prince smiled evilly.

Pinky ignored him. “Princess Allura, I just want you to know I really enjoyed all the laughs and yuks we had together.”

“Yes,” Allura responded slowly. She sensed that Antonio was trying to communicate a plan, but what was it?

“I really enjoyed making you laugh with that slapstick routine I did ” Pinky continued. “It was worth the pain to hear you laugh, even if I couldn’t see you for awhile. Do you remember?”

“YES! I mean, yes, it was funny,” The Princess replied, a devious smile curling her lips. She had a Plan; all she had to do was implement it.

A scowling Lotor interrupted her thoughts. “Yes, I am sure Antonio’s lots of laughs, Allura, but too bad. He’s staying- you’re going. Move it, Princess!”

“What’s your hurry, my Prince?” Allura suddenly purred. “I thought perhaps you might like to put on a show for the boys first.”

“Wha-“ Lotor gulped as the Princess of Arus pressed her sweetly curved backside against his thighs. “What kind of show?”

“I’ll show you if you turn me around,” She responded, her hand lifting to caress the forearm wrapped around her waist as her bottom wiggled.

“I see.” The yellow eyes narrowed. “And why would you want to do this? I thought you had a yen for the goody-goody Captain.”

His captive turned her head to the side and pouted prettily. “I have a yen for all good looking men. Ask my Nanny.”

“Hmph! That may be, but now you are mine! Yes, my Princess, I do agree, an intimate kiss from you will show Keith you are my possession- and that you will serve only me!”

The sword disappeared from beneath her chin, and Allura turned, her gaze focusing on the Prince’s broad chest; he stood with lowered arms, though his sword was still at the ready. Her gaze moved up his massive bulk and focused on the sharp angle of his chin, dropped to his chest again and then lowered.

She started to smile.

“What is so amusing, Allura?” Lotor snarled.

“Um, nothing.” She answered, stifling a giggle.

A rough hand under her chin jerked her gaze up to his. “Tell me!”

“I think you should know that you have a big stain in a very personal area.” The Princess informed him quietly. Her lips twitched as the haughty Prince’s eyes widened in horror.

He released her chin and quickly glanced down. “Where?”

“HERE!” The Princess yelled, bringing up her curled hand so that the side of it slid under the perfect nose and painfully shoved it upwards.

“OW!” Lotor dropped his sword and grabbed his nose as unexpected pain exploded below it. The Princess then made a ‘v’ for victory with the fingers of her right hand and with a ‘poinking’ gesture, jabbed the two digits into his yellow orbs.

“AAHH!” The Prince’s helmet fell off as he doubled over, screaming with blind rage. The screams were promptly cut off by a feminine arm encircling his neck and squeezing as his scalp and hair were harshly rubbed and pulled by... knuckles?

“No, not the hair!” He croaked.

“Getting a little thin up there aren’t you?” Allura mocked. “We just better cover it up, then!”

The encircling arm flung him aside and Lotor stumbled, opening his eyes and trying to focus on the pink blur that was coming at him. However, it disappeared again, as his helmet was rammed down on his head and over his eyes.

Hearing his prize running away, he struggled to remove the headpiece, but it was stuck fast.

“If you didn’t have such a big head, that wouldn’t be a problem!” Allura yelled from a distance.

A loud rumbling told Lotor that she was going to make her escape. As he finally wrenched the helmet and huge patches of hair off his head along with it, his clearing vision spotted the Princess resting safely on the paw of Black Lion as it lifted off the ground.

Inside the Big Suit, The Brain was looking upon his colleague in wonder. “What in the world...how did- what the heck was that?”

Pinky shrugged and grinned.

“It’s called ‘the Moe’.”

His Captain blinked at him in disbelief.

“It’s classic, you know. She thought it was really funny when I did it to myself,” Pinky added, proudly.

“Heh, I should have known. Only you, Antonio...only you.” The Brain said, with a small smile. “Well done.”

“Thank you, Brain.”

“Now get out of my chair!”

“Yes, Brain.”

“Are you all right, Princess?” Keith’s amplified voice asked.

“Yes, but Blue Lion isn’t!” Allura yelled. “We really can’t form Voltron now!”

“Don’t worry, Princess, I think the Braintron Force can handle it!” Pidge spoke up, as the rest of the Lions circled Black Lion.

“Why don’t you three back them up, and I’ll land so I can get inside the Princess, I mean, get the Princess inside!” Keith suggested, his cheeks reddening at the slip.

“Be sure to let us know when you do,” Lance replied with a broad smirk.

Pidge and Hunk tittered.

Then, before Keith could form a response, the three Lions took off.

“Let’s get him, mice!” The Brain cried, as Lotor bolted around them and headed for his transport.

The hovercraft took off, lurching and belching.

The Big Suit followed, running easily over the rough terrain, until it could launch itself into the sky. It set a course for the surprisingly speedy hovercraft.

After a few minutes of pursuit without gaining ground, The Brain told Pinky, “Tell Cheddar we need more power.”

Pinky dutifully relayed the message to an on screen Cheddar, who quickly tapped the command into his console. The Suit gave a lurch of speed, then slowed once again. Cheddar started squeaking, frantically waving his paws.

“He says this is the fastest we can go, unless we want the power crystal to be drained and all our weapons rendered useless.” Pinky informed the Captain.

“I don’t care! We must go faster. Tell him to make us go faster!” The Brain thundered, slamming a fist down on the arm of his command chair. A sorrowful squeaking filled the cockpit in response.

“He says, ‘Captain, the crystal will not survive a higher speed! I can nae change the laws o’ physics!’” Pinky translated.

The Brain scowled at Pinky. “Do something! Get down there and help him!”

Pinky scowled back. “Dammit John- I’m a mouse, not an engineer.”

Somewhere down below the Big Suit, Lotor smiled grimly as he spotted the outlines of fallen trees from the Totally Demolished Glen. He gunned the craft to top speed, and shot toward them.

In the glen, Hagar rose and stretched, as she spotted the black cloud shooting along the ground. She had watched the whole disaster unfold in her traveling crystal ball, cackling madly at the antics of the Princess.

~She certainly has a mean streak, maybe there’s hope for her yet!~ The old witch chuckled. ~Ah well, I may as well prepare for the journey home. Thank the evil stars Zarkon has no idea where we are. If I timed our disapparation correctly, no one will have noticed we were missing.~

Using her staff for support, Hagar clambered into her coffin ship. She muttered a few preliminary magical phrases for apparation, and then sat back and patiently waited for the inept Prince to arrive.

“He’s going for the glen!” The Brain shouted.

“Don’t worry, Hunk, Pidge and I are right behind you,” Lance’s voice assured them. “Coming over at twelve ‘o clock high. We’ll stop him.”

“We copy, Lieutenant. And thanks!”

The lion ships roared past Lotor and landed in front of him, forcing the Prince to bring his transport to a screeching halt.

“Out of my way, infidels!” The Doomian shouted, drawing his sword. “My witch is behind you, and if you do not let me leave, you will be sorry.”

The malevolent cackle echoing into the clearing proved it was no idle threat.

“That witch again! Why is she always so good at helping him get away?” Hunk fumed.

“She’s had lots of practice,” Pidge reminded him.

“Oh. Yeah.”

“Let’s take her out, and leave Lotor to Braintron,” Lance ordered.

“Right!”

“You’re on!”

As soon as Hagar saw the Lion ships turning her way, she shrieked. Before they could make a move on her, the lid of her ship had slammed down and she had taken off, disapparating immediately after launch.

“How do ya like that? “ Hunk said. “She didn’t even want to fight.”

“I have a feeling it wasn’t her idea to come here,” Lance responded, grinning. “She’s letting Lotor take his lumps on this one. Now all Braintron has to do is finish him off.”

Unbeknownst to the Red Lion pilot, the Captain and first mate of Braintron had a dilemma on their paws. They sat, still as mice, all weapons trained on the evil Prince who had sunk to his knees in dejection as he watched Hagar disappear into thin air.

“You realize, Pinky, if we capture or kill Lotor, that Voltron will no longer be needed.” The Brain said slowly.

“Yes Brain.”

“It’s your favorite show.”

“I know.”

“We would never see them again.” The Brain added, slowly.

“Yes, and you’d never get to meet Queen Merla.” Pinky told him sadly.

“Who’s Queen Merla?”

“A pink-haired, telepathic warrior woman with a passion for nuclear physics who is bent on conquering new worlds.”

The Brain gawked at his friend. “Are you serious? And she’s a real Queen?”

“Quite. She was engaged to Prince Lotor, but she broke it off because- well...because he’s Lotor.” sniffed Pinky.

The Brain straightened, a new type of glint in his eyes. “That settles it then! We’ll punish him severely and then we’re going to let him get away. That is, if it’s okay with you, Pinky. He was quite terrible to you, you have every right to want revenge.”

“But that would end the show with the VF in total limbo, and out of work to boot! That’s something Lotor would want, so we shouldn’t give it to him.” Pinky declared passionately. “But how can we punish him?”

“Hm. Good question ...but wait! Are you pondering, what I’m pondering, Pinky?”

“I think so Brain, but Coran won’t ever leave Arus to be your butler.”

“No, no, I mean this!” The mouse genius pointed to a button on his console. “Let’s give him a blast,” he added, with an evil grin.

The Space Mice, who had been eavesdropping the entire time on their split screens, also gave evil grins.

“Oh my,” Pinky said, his eyes wide. ”What is-“

The Brain reached over and pressed the key.

The arms of the big suit raised to point at Lotor, who had now risen to his feet, a mocking smile pasted upon his cold blue lips.

“Go ahead, do it!” He snarled, throwing away his sword.

The mouths of four mouse appendages opened up.

“That’s it, kill an unarmed man like the cowardly little rodents you are!” The evil Prince taunted, his voice shaking a little.

“Oh we’re not going to do that,” The Brain’s voice informed him.

“Then you truly are cowards!”

“Fire, Pinky,” The Brain ordered.

“With pleasure, Brain.” Pinky pushed the key once more.

Gusts of a vile smelling wind shot out of each mouse mouth, merging into one powerful cyclone before reaching the astounded Lotor. It hit, then enveloped him, bearing him along until he was over his coffin ship.

The Brain then cut off the power, and the Prince dropped, kicking and gagging, into his vessel. The lid slammed shut, and then the coffin launched, quickly disappearing over the horizon.

“Smell you later, Lotor!” The Braintron Captain grinned, then looked askance at Pinky. “Limburger Wind Blasters,” he explained.

“Ohhhh my, I wonder how he’s going to explain his stenchy-wenchy to King Zarkon?” Pinky chortled.

“Or his harem,” The Brain added with a smirk. “As a good friend of mine once said- ‘Naaarrrffff’!”

Pinky giggled.

Next: The Finale and Epilogue