So... I spent a few years in Naruto fandom. I’m still on the fringes of it, but when I was In Deep, there was a very popular plot for a few years. The Akatsuki (group of bad guys) would get turned into kittens, and be forced to live with someone either harmless (civilian in the real world was a popular choice) or Sensible (often Sakura Haruno).
(If you’ve ever seen “Akatsukitty,” this is what it’s about.)
And now I'm thinking of an AU where, instead of Lotor being Left For Dead in the rift, the White Lion possessed Allura and dragged him out and did a Magic to turn Lotor into a harmless kitten. Nobody is really comfortable hurting a harmless kitten, so instead the team is just... stuck caring for Kitty Lotor.
Lotor is still spitting mad and tries to swipe everyone that comes near him with his claws until Allura manages to work the excess quintessence from his system.
After that he's mostly just moody. He hangs out with Kaltenecker a lot.
Zethrid: WHERE'S LOTOR.
Allura: He... got turned into a kitten.
Zethrid: What.
Allura: Like Kova, but younger.
Zethrid: What.
Ezor would be advocating to Kill The Kitten, honestly. S7 Ezor is fully embracing her sadism.
That said, if we remove the timeskip and just have the team pick up the Gals on their way out from the Castle's destruction... Well, Zethrid had a soft spot for Kova, right?
Zethrid is a cat person. In more ways than one.
Acxa: The Empire is going to fall into chaos without an Emperor.
Lance: Yep, great, we'll just put Mister Meow here on the throne, that'll go SWELL.
The timing could be more variable, happen earlier, like shortly after Oriande? There are a lot of options. I just really like Kitty Lotor.
Hunk: So like... is he an Altean cat or a Galra cat or like an Earth cat or what?
Pidge: Why does it matter?
Hunk: What do we feed him?
Someone needs to figure out if Lotor can actually, safely eat various things. It’s possible that, for the sake of comedy, Lotor's kitty instincts kick in and he starts chasing the space mice around.
(This is where Kosmo comes in, I imagine. Someone to protect the mice.)
If it happens circa Oriande, or before S6E5, at any rate...
Keith, showing up with Romelle and Krolia: We have to take Lotor down, he's been hurting a lot of people.
Allura, holding an absurdly fluffy and silky white cat: About that.
(Romelle, please don't kick the cat.)