Two weeks later, their new and improved training was well on its way.

In front of the Castle, Allura and Pidge were practicing hand to hand combat.

"Out of all the Guardians, of all the Lions, I'm the one Paladin who winds up practicing on a planet where there no forests," Pidge grumbled. She dodged away from one of Allura's kicks and continued.

"I mean, when do I get to practice with my superpowers?"

Allura smiled, even as she followed the kick with a few quick jabs of her fist, which Pidge avoided with ease.

"I'm sure your time will come soon," the Princess said. "But if it makes you feel any better, I don't have superpowers - and I probably won't get any, either - "

Pidge caught her by the wrist and used a move Allura had shown her earlier to bring the Princess down onto one knee.

"Strength totally counts as a superpower," Pidge said, and Allura tapped the ground in concession.

"Well, it's not super - I'm just - "

But Allura's words were cut off as Lance shouted in excitement over the comms.

"GUYS! GUYS, COME SEE WHAT HUNK'S DOING!"

As the two women turned around, they saw a mound of earth some ways away start to rumble and quake, and then it shot upwards, forming a pillar of solid stone.

"What the quiznak -" Allura said, but Pidge was jumping up and down, hollering in unrestrained glee.

"YEAH, HUNK! YOU GO, EARTHBENDER!"

From atop the newly constructed pillar, Hunk waved down to them. Then he concentrated, called up another pillar of earth, and slid back down it to the moon's surface.

Lance had summersaulted head over heels as the pillar had shot up, but he'd already gotten to his feet. He wobbled, still dizzy from the tumble, but gave his friend an unsteady thumbs up.

"Whooo!" he said again, and had to sit down. "Yeeeaaahhh - whooo - hoooooo - now all we need is -"

Pidge had already activated her comms.

"Keith, come in. How's it going out there?"

There was a hiss and a buzzing noise before Keith's voice came over the comms system.

"YEEEAAAAAAHHH! BANKAI, BITCHES!"

"Sounds like it's going well," Pidge said, even as smoke and a heat haze emanated from a nearby valley. The Red Paladin was a full-on firebender now, and from where he stood watching from a safe distance, Coran smiled contentedly.

"Ah, Paladins," he said. Lance came to stand by him, and together, they watched as Keith fired - ahaha, get it? - at a giant rock pile they'd made the day before down in the valley. There wasn't any vegetation down there, and it had been Keith's idea to stay away from the other Paladins' practice areas until he could master the element fully.

"I think he likes fire-bending," Lance said conversationally to Coran as they heard Keith give another whoop of joy as he sent another bolt of flame at the already blackened pile of rocks.

"TAKE THAT, OZAI! YEAH - THAT'S RIGHT! I'M TALKIN' TO YOU!"

"I think you're right," Coran replied, his eyebrows lifting. "Maybe. Possibly."

Lance clapped Coran on the back. "Aw, Coran, you're learning the joy of understatement. I'm so proud of you - "

Coran made a tally on a notepad he carried, and he called down to Keith.

"Keith! I think you should show the others what you can do - "

Keith looked up, nodded, and the fire died away. Lance felt slightly puzzled, and he looked back over at Coran.

"Uh - I thought Keith could fire-bend - isn't that he was just - "

Coran held up a hand, winking at Lance.

"Just watch."

Lance turned back to look towards where Keith had been standing.

Had been.

He wasn't there anymore.

Lance's jaw dropped and he whirled back to Coran, disbelief written all over his face.

"HE CAN TURN INVISIBLE?!"

Coran face-palmed himself, laughing harder than Lance had ever seen him laugh before.

"No, nononono, Lance - oh my - I'm sorry - your face - ahahaha, no - no, that's not it - he can - "

Then Keith spoke, but his voice didn't come over the comms.

"Boo."

Lance jumped three feet in the air and looked behind him. Keith stood a few feet away from him, looking enormously pleased with himself. Lance looked from the valley floor to Keith and back again, and his face lit up with excitement

"What the - Keith - how did you - wait - wait - OH MY GOD - "

Coran couldn't help himself. He howled with laughter at the way Lance flapped his arms in wild excitement.

"- OHMYGOD - KEITH - YOU JUST APPARATED-"

Keith nodded. "Well - technically I teleported - and I can't do it non-stop - I've only done it a couple times so far - "

Pidge and Hunk had come to stand by them, and Pidge looked around, as if searching for someone.

"Does Shiro know you can do that?" she asked, and Keith nodded.

"Duh," he said, as if that should be self-evident. "I showed him first - obviously - "

"Where is Shiro?" Hunk asked, looking around as well. "I haven't seen him in a while - "

"He said something about talking to Black," Pidge said. "But that was a while ago - "

Then they saw Shiro coming towards them, and they all ran to meet him half-way. Coran headed back towards the Castle, intent on preparing a delicious Paladin dinner.

"Keith just apparated!" Lance said, and Shiro raised an eyebrow.

"I thought it was teleportation - " he said to Keith, who sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I told Lance before - but I guess he likes Harry Potter terminology better than X-Men abilities - "

"I do not!" Lance said. "And anyway - you can't be Nightcrawler if you're the Red Paladin - he's completely blue - "

"Like that had anything to do with his teleportation abilities, Lance - "

Pidge elbowed them both in the sides, ssshing them. "Quiet, you two! Shiro has something to tell us!"

Shiro nodded, looking up at the afternoon sky for a second before looking back at them all.

"You all know I'm the Guardian of the Sky, right?"

"…yeah…" Hunk said, feeling confused. "Does that make you an air-bender?"

Shiro laughed. "Not really."

Lance's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What, then?"

Shiro grinned.

"You might want to step back a few paces."

Hunk looked confused for a few moments, but then his face cleared, and his eyes widened.

"Holy crow - Shiro - are you a - a - "

Keith thought that Shiro was smirking. Really smirking now, like he had at the Garrison when he had just accomplished the honor of becoming the youngest pilot in the history of space exploration.

"Just watch."

They all took a few paces back from Shiro, who breathed in, once, deeply.

Light - clear, white, pure light - began to pulse and dance between the fingers of his left hand, and it took Lance a second to realize what it was.

It wasn't light.

It was lightning.

Freaking. Lighting.

Shiro grinned at all of their expressions.

"Pretty neat, huh?"

Lance squeaked, and Keith whooped. "Awesome, Shiro!" Hunk made a fascinated sound and Pidge brought her face closer.

"How - " she asked, but Shiro only shrugged, smiling. Keith hadn't seen Shiro smile like that in a long time.

"Apparently this wasn't something Haggar could take away," he said. "Black said something about powers manifesting from one's truest nature - or something like that."

"WOW!" Lance said, grinning back at Shiro. "That's amazing, Shiro!"

Shiro nodded, glancing at the first pillar Hunk had managed to create, a thoughtful look crossing his face.

"Hunk - do you mind if I - "

Hunk grinned. "Aw, no worries, man, you can totally use it for target practice. I'll just make another one tomorrow - "

"Okay then," Shiro said, and he took in another deep breath, closing his eyes for half a second. When he opened them again, Lance thought he saw sparks of lightning reflecting in his friend's dark grey eyes.

"Let's try - this - "

Shiro pointed his left hand at the center of the pillar, and a bolt of lightening shot straight through the pillar of rock, completely cutting it in two.

There was a crash, and a cloud of dust, and everyone coughed for a few minutes, but once the dust settled down, the five Paladins of Voltron looked at each other.

Then they all went crazy.

"HAHA! WE ALL HAVE SUPERPOWERS NOW!" Lance shouted, hugging Hunk, who hugged him back.

"OH THOSE GALRA MESSED WITH THE WRONG PEOPLE!" Pidge hollered, punching Keith in the arm.

"HOW ARE WE GOING TO USE THESE POWERS IN BATTLE?!" Hunk screamed in joy.

"I DON'T KNOW - BUT IT'S GOING TO BE AMAZING WHEN WE DO - " Lance shouted back at him, and then he realized Shiro was just looking at his Galra hand.

"Greatest weapon, huh?" he said, and he was smiling. It was a hard smile, but there was genuine pleasure in it too.

From where she sat near the Castle, Black heard her Paladins' words in her mind, and she purred in satisfaction at knowing what he meant.

"Nice try, Haggar - but I think you failed in the end."

Then Shiro looked over at the other Paladins, and they grinned back at him.

"So…should we call you Iroh now, or what?" Keith asked, and Shiro laughed. For the first time in a long time, it sounded carefree.

"You know that makes you Zuko, right?"

Keith made an indignant sound. "You are not my uncle - you are way too young for that - "

They headed back towards the Castle, still debating whether or not Shiro was technically Iroh or Space Dad. Shiro smiled to himself as he listened. Honestly, he was fine with either one.

They weren't Team Avatar, but they were a team.

And at the end of the day, that's what mattered.