Catolina, a final space fanfic

Hey guys! GiLaw here.

So a while ago I started watching Final Space and I have to say, I really love it. It's not perfect, but the stuff that's in it is really very good. The humor, the drama, the chemistry between the characters. It's one of those shows that when it nails it, it really hits the nail on the head.

However, if there's one thing I'd have to criticize, it's the lack of developed backstory, particularly with one of my favourite characters of the series, Avocato. I'm not going to go into too much detail about why because it would just be nitpicking but I did always find the lack of a motherly figure . . . odd.

So anyways, I put this fanficiton together on what I feel happened in terms of Little Cato's birth.

Enjoy ;)

Catolina

"And you see this?" Gary grinned, raising his silver metallic arm and flexing it into a 90 degree angle, trying to bulge some form of muscle for Quinn to see. "Yeah, got this after that little buttface Lord Commander tore off my real one. It was awful. Awesome but awful. Awesomely awful! There was so much blood. So much blood spraying everywhere!"

Quinn raised an eyebrow and sunk into her seat, arms folded. "That's . . . lovely."

"Yeah, isn't it? And I'll have you know-" Gary's grin grew wider, more proud. "I didn't shed a tear. I took it like a man. I picked that arm right up and I carried it back with me."

"Ohhhh!" Mooncake bounced in admiration.

"But you did scream a lot." Avocato was trying not to smirk.

"Well of course I screamed!" Gary yelled. "When you have your arm slowly torn off, it's painful! Sometimes you gotta scream to ease that pain. It's natural instinct! And then this guy right here-" Without giving him any time to react, he grabbed Avocato behind him and pulled him over to Quinn sitting by the table. "This guy- he takes his little blaster- PEW! No more blood! It's a miracle!"

"Well as you put it-" Avocato flashed Gary a warm smile. "Natural instinct."

"Of course it was! 'Cause we've got the friendship mode ENGAGED!" Gary raised his robotic hand and grabbed Avocato's in it. "Wanna know how we really formed that friendship? He put this baby onto me!" With their hands still clasped together, Gary raised his arm, bringing Avocato's up with it. Quinn watched on, almost waiting for Avocato to protest. He didn't. He just chuckled and went along with it.

"Wooooow, are you two walzing?"

"DAMN IT KVN YOU RUINED THE MOMENT!" Gary grabbed the one eyed robot in both hands and slammed him to the ground with a loud crash.

"Owww . . ."

"Yeah! Stay down! Ha!" Gary nodded to himself before leaping over to the same seat as Quinn who shifted away a little, but only a little so that someone naive (like Gary) wouldn't notice. "Now then . . . where were we?"

Quinn rolled her eyes, following Gary's robotic arm that whipped over her head and around her shoulder. She squeezed her lips a little and raised her eyes to seal contact with Avocato's, pulling a face to do the talking for her.

"He does this a lot?"

Avocato smirked and nodded back at her. "Oh yeah."

Quinn let out a sigh of annoyed amusement as she rolled her eyes back over to Gary and decided she might as well let him finish his "epic" story. The man was babbling away in his own little world where everyone stopped to listen to how amazing his adventures were and as much as you wanted to punch him in the face for all the yelling and boasting, the softer more humane side would remind you of the kinder, gold hearted fellow he was.

"Now, this bad boy?" Gary patted Quinn's shoulder with his robotic arm. "It was fixed on by that guy over there. Didn't feel a thing! And now-" He rose from his seat, stomping his foot up onto the table in a confident superhero like pose. "In exchange for this, I'm gonna help find Avocato's son. Granted I was gonna help him find his son before I got this amazing arm in the first place because that's what friends do! They help each other out no matter what gets thrown at them! That's why we have friends! For support! It's important!"

With folded arms, Avocato allowed a small chuckle out of him. "You got that right."

"Yeah baby!" Gary jumped back into his seat and Avocato watched him lean up to Quinn, bringing his flirty robotic arm around again. "And you can help too, baby."

"I'm not your baby."

"You're not my baby YET! But you will be soon. You know Avocato and I . . . we did the friendship clasp in less than two days. You and I . . . soon enough, we're gonna be a thing, baby."

"Call me baby one more time and I'm gonna see if you feel anything through that robot arm of yours."

"Ah baby, you wouldn't."

SNAP!

"OH MY GOD!" Gary screamed, clutching onto his twisted robot wrist that was twisted a full 180 degrees. "HOW DID YOU DO THAT? HOLY CRAP THE PAIN! HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK? IT'S A ROBOT ARM, ROBOTS DON'T EVEN FEEL PAIN!"

"Oh myyyy, that looks pretty baaaad." KVN floated up to Gary and sat (if a spherical robot could even do that) next to him where Quinn had left and took his robot arm in his metal claws. Naturally Gary only screamed louder and with his good right flesh arm, slammed KVN in what could be considered his face with his fist.

"YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Gary gritted his teeth and took his twisted metal hand in his real hand. With a yelp and a jerk, he twisted it back to normal. He blinked and looked down, wiggling his fingers before another overeager grin spread across his face. Standing back up on the table in his superhero pose, he shook the shiny metal arm for the whole universe to see. "Best. Arm. Ever!"

"I know, right?"

Gary paused when he realized he was the only one in the room, unless you counted KVN who no one ever did. He blinked and dropped his hands down, and then his foot down with it.

"Huh. Well that's real nice. Some crew, huh? Won't listen to their captain."

"You are not the captain, Gary."

"I will be, HUE."

"Chookity!"

"Ahh, you still love me," Gary smiled as he allowed Mooncake to bounce up to his face and rub against his cheek.

"Yah, I love you too, Gary."

"Don't touch me." Gary glared at KVN who raised his claw hands and floated out of the room. He then turned to Mooncake and squeezed the little green alien's cheeks. "Hey. Wonder where the crew went. Maybe they wanna hear the rest of my amazing story, huh?"

"Chookity-pa!" Mooncake smiled, nuzzling up to his friend as Gary rose and began heading down the ship and into the corridor, walking a cheerful confident march towards Quinn's room. He was just about there when an open door caught his eye. Raising his eyebrows, Gary skidded backwards to take a peep. Avocato was in his room, sitting on his bed, holding tight onto his helmet, staring into it with shimmery bright yellow eyes.

"Hey Avocato!"

Avocato blinked and looked up. His grip on his helmet tightened a little. "Dude, it's called knocking!"

"Well you kind of left the door open. I saw it. I got curious!" Gary stepped into the room, followed closely by Mooncake and hopped onto the bed next to Avocato. "Whatcha lookin' at?"

Avocato scowled and instinctively tilted the helmet towards him so that Gary wouldn't see while Gary blinked back at him, almost innocently. He heaved a heavy sigh and put it down for Gary to see. Inside lay a picture of father and son, Avocato and Little Cato close together, smiling happily.

"N'aww." Gary took the helmet in his hands so he could take a closer look. Mooncake hovered over, equally curious. "Very nice. You can . . . really see the bond ya got there."

Avocato nodded, smiling a little but only a little. "Thanks."

"So tell me." Gary threw up the helmet, flipped it back right side up, then caught it again so he could hand it back over to Avocato. "Who's the honey that made this lovely son of yours?"

"What?"

"Well you know-" Gary looked up at Mooncake, smirking as he tapped his fingers together. "When you wanna have kids, you need a male and a female to do that. You need some LOVE!"

"Gary . . ."

"And you know, Little Cato looks great but I'm pretty sure that bright orange fur wasn't all died. I mean can you imagine dying yourself entirely one colour? Man, that would hurt! It would BURN!"

Avocato was clawing his fingers holding onto his helmet.

"Funny," Gary continued, talking more to himself and Mooncake than the Ventrixian next to him. "I hear you all the time, Little Cato, Little Cato! Where's the lady in all this? She out there too, searching the cosmos for this beloved son of yours?"

Mooncake was no longer looking at Gary, but at Avocado. Gary noticed and immediately turned around, only to see Avocato trembling next to him, breathing through gritted chattering teeth. His ears had dropped. His eyes were wet and shimmering.

"Ohhhh." Gary's face dropped, his body sinking with it. "Sorry, man."

Avocato shut his eyes to keep them from tearing up and released his emotions through a heavy sigh. "You didn't know. I never told you about her."

"I know," Gary murmured, running his fingers through his hair. "You'd think for someone I clasped hands with, you would have told me! Because we got the friendship going. So there should be no secrets! And now I real like a total dickhead because I brought up that secret not knowing how much it meant to you!" Gary bit his lip and took a moment to compose himself before gently patting Avocato on the shoulder. "Hey. It's alright if you don't wanna talk about it because you look a little bit-"

"You're gonna want me to talk about it aren't you?" For some reason, Avocato chuckled weakly, a reason he didn't know himself.

"Well you know, now that it's been brought up, I'm kinda curious, you know. It happens, you hear about something and then you wanna know. But sometimes the other doesn't wanna talk about it and you get why, it's hard, but at the same time, you wanna know!" Again, Gary sighed, allowing himself to settle down and look up at his friend. "But it's up to you."

Avocato sat there, his head dropped. He raised the helmet in his hands. He flipped it over so he could look down at that loving picture of himself and his sun and trace it with his finger. He sighed and shut his eyes. Beside him, Gary stayed where he was, waiting quietly, patiently and Mooncake floated nearby as they waited for a response. Finally, Avocato opened his eyes, looking up, looking at Gary next to him. He heaved another heavy sigh.

"Might as well."

Gary gasped, eyebrows raised but for once, knew that he would have to keep his mouth shut and let Avocato do the talking. It allowed him to force a brave but pained smile as he lowered the helmet in his hands.

"Why not? You said yourself, we're buds. Why hide anything?"

Any other time, Gary would have celebrated the fact that he had gotten someone to spill, but knowing how deep this was going to get, nodded and watched as Avocato took a deep breath and lay back into the bed, toying around in his helmet.

"Her name was Catolina. And she was a feisty one . . ."

Avocato was standing in the kitchen, washing the last of the dishes. The sun gleamed through the window providing all the light he needed. The small house was the perfect size for two Ventrexians and a child. Every time Avocato took a soapy wet dish out to dry, he was greeted with a photo frame on the windowsill. There was one of himself and a female cat with bright orange fluff covering her and fierce bright eyes. The happy couple were standing side by side, both dressed in the best military gear the planet could offer, wielding large rifles in the air. Avocato would then look down and his eyes would fall on another frame of himself smiling madly with the orange female over his shoulders, smiling even wider showing rows of sharp white teeth. A third picture on the windowsill was one of just the female, standing on the mountains with two massive blasters, one in each hand. She wear dressed in torn leather with suede leather boots and dark sunglasses, yet her bold eyes flashed through. The sunset in the background gleamed over her, making her orange fur shine golden.

As Avocato fished out another cup, the same female stepped into the kitchen, though you wouldn't guess it was the same feline as in the pictures, as her bright sunny fluff from the photos had grown a stringy dull orange, if not brown. The no nonsense leather and military gear had been replaced with saggy ragged old shirts, that, no matter how loose still exposed the massive bulge on her stomach. The only thing that was still the same was the pair of bright gleaming eyes that swiveled around in search of food. She strolled over to the fridge and opened it up, rummaging through it for anything good. She pulled out a carton of milk and shook it around. When it only made a small splashing sound, she tutted and opened it up so she could drink the last few contents out of it.

Avocato smirked at he stacked up the last plate and emptied the sink. "How's the kit doing in there?"

"He wants more milk and cake."

Avocato chuckled as he dried off his hands with a tea towel. "Of course he does."

Catolina groaned loudly but kept a small grin on her face as she chucked the empty carton in a bin that was full to the brim of milk cartons and packets of cake and snacks. She began padding her way down to the bedroom, closely followed by her husband. "I thought they only happened for the first three months!"

The bedroom was decorated with state of the art weaponry around the walls. One side was holding six large rifles of ranging sizes with four smaller blasters underneath. On the opposite wall lay a row of large axes that grew shorter as you scrolled down until you reached the small row of blood knives. It really added some oomph to the cream coloured walls, the rose red carpet and the large double bed with crisp white sheets. The room was complete with another picture of the happy couple, this time of them standing in a battlefield of defeated opponents. The couple were standing together in victory, in full military gear: the bullet proof vests with bullet belts around their chests, the elbow and knee pads, the black fingerless gloves. Their helmets lay in front of them, allowing the couple to beam proudly together, wielding their blasters. Avocato had the hand that wasn't holding a weapon around his wife's shoulders and had given her a quick kiss on the head and Catolina's bright orange fur was tinting pink around the cheeks.

"I'm gonna head down to the store real quick because GOD I need some more milk." Catolina had picked up the two smaller rifles that were lighter but still equally effective and tucked them into her belt under her loose shirt where no one would see them. The belt was loaded with grenades and bullets for the blasters. As she slipped on a pair of simple boots, she flicked a glance of the bullet proof vest sitting in the corner that the large bulge on her stomach prevented her from wearing.

"Now you're to come straight back when you have the stuff you need, you got that?"

Catolina rolled her eyes and strolled casually into Avocato's arms. "Like I haven't been for the last nine months?"

"I'm serious! You know yourself-"

"That's why I loaded up."

"Yeah, and you're to only get what you need. I don't want you carrying more than you can."

"Excuse me?" Catolina snorted, playfully poking Avocato on the nose. "Since when did you become my daddy all of a sudden?"

"Well as long as my kid's in there I'm gonna keep watching you like I am one!" Avocato took his wife's bulge in his hands and stroked it gently. Catolina sighed and placed her hands over his.

"I can't wait to pop this thing out."

Avocato raised an eyebrow as he felt a blow on that bulge. He couldn't help but chuckle at it. "I don't think he can wait either."

"Yeah, he wants some milk."

"Okay then." Avocato allowed himself to let his wife slide out of his grasp but not before giving her a quick peck on the forehead. "Take care of yourself."

Avocato paused for a moment to regain his thoughts. Gary hadn't said a word since he had begun his story and glanced at Mooncake who made a small "Hmm" but other than that remained silent. Sniffing back his emotions, Avocato looked straight up at Gary with cold hard golden eyes.

"You ever get that feeling where you know something bad is gonna happen . . . and then it happens?"

Catolina was strolling down the sandy grounds of the planet Ventrexia, gulping down one bottle of milk and carrying a plastic bag with two more, along with a box containing a sponge cake with jam and cream and several packets of chocolate cookies. The sun was high and bright in the sky, its light tinting the sandy grounds golden orange. While many Ventrixians would hide away from this sun and seek the nearest possible shade, Catolina raised her face to it and allowed her stringy brown fur to glow orange in the light.

Over in the distance near a quiet neighbourhood, some Ventrixian kittens had braved the sunlight for a play session. Two were growling and play wrestling, three were throwing stones into a target dug in the sand and three were playing with toy guns. Catolina sighed to herself as she watched a kitten shoot his friend with a fake bullet. The kitten let out an exaggerated groan of "despair" and pretended to die, collapsing to the ground. As she strolled past them, she finished off the carton of milk and stuffed it in the bag. When she swallowed it down, she felt a little thud in her stomach. She scoffed and patted her bulge.

"Are you still not satisfied?"

She felt another thud in her chest. Then another. Her ears suddenly pricked up when she realized it wasn't the baby kicking. Catolina looked up only to see many Ventrixians screaming and running away from their respective houses. The thudding in her stomach, now rushing up to her heart was a response to the loud bangs in the distance. The kittens behind her looked up and squealed in horror before scampering away.

Without a moment's hesitation, Catolina pulled the blasters out, dropping the plastic bag. The cartons of milk spilled open, the contents running out to form a large white puddle, with the cake splattering on top of it. Her eyes flicked around, trying to ignore the approaching soldiers and instead concentrate on finding a hiding spot. Two rows of houses caught her attention. Clutching onto her bulge, she ran as fast as her legs would allow her to go and ducked behind the nearest house.

The attacking tribe of soldiers was not one she recognized, they were all covered up, but they were attacking her planet for some reason. Biting her lip, she peeped around the edge of the wall, searching for approaching attackers. Four of them had run past her, shooting at the helpless kittens. Seeing this, Catolina reached out with her blasters and fired, striking them perfectly in the back and whipping back in before anyone could catch her. She felt another kick in her stomach and patted her bulge softly. If it wasn't there, she would have taken out half of this army by now.

She peeped around behind her again. The soldiers were marching in two straight lines, searching for more Ventrixian victims. She narrowed her eyes and quickly pulled up her shirt to pull out a grenade. She didn't set it off just yet. She waited for the footsteps to grow louder. One, two, one, two, the feet thudded down in unison. Harder, louder, fiercer, louder. One, two, one two. She couldn't tell if the thud in her chest was the baby kicking or her heart pounding.

They were marching past her hiding spot. Catolina gritted her teeth, her grip on the grenade tightening a little, her eyes following the soldiers march past her. Now was the time. She set off the grenade and chucked it out as far as it would go, immediately pulling her blasters back out before it landed by the soldiers. If any of them survived, it wouldn't be for long, not on her watch.

She watched on . . . The grenade landed on the sand on the right hand side of the army that immediately took notice and went to jump away, but the bomb was quicker. A massive BOOM and the explosion took out nine of the twelve soldiers that had been marching in that line. The two at the very back looked up in search of where that grenade had been launched and spotted Catolina hiding between the houses. But they had dropped their weapons and she already had hers out and shot at them before they had a chance to grab them. She smirked a little as they collapsed to the ground, but her eyes could still make out a dark shape emerging through the black smoke and she shot at it without giving it a chance to even try. It took three shots from both blasters for the soldier to jerk violently and then collapse over the others.

"Yes!" Catolina hissed to herself, shaking her weapons with pride. She looked down at her bulge and patted it. It had stopped with the thudding and kicking. "Mommy's got some moves, huh?"

Smirking to herself, Catolina took one last peep around the house for any more soldiers. There didn't seem to be anyone left. Nevertheless, she kept her guns out as she crept out into the open. No soldiers. Catolina squinted her eyes but decided to put her weapons away. Just as she lifted up her shirt to fix her blasters onto her belt, the corner of her eye caught another soldier sneaking out. Catolina immediately aimed her other blaster at him but the soldier was quicker and with one, two, three bangs, Catolina felt something in her heart and she knew it was more than just the pounding fear and adrenaline. The weight and impact seemed to be too much for her knees that gave up on her almost immediately. Everything began to spin. Knowing she had seconds before she hit the ground, she raised her blaster and fired one last bullet at the soldier and somehow, miraculously, she managed to strike him perfectly in the head. The soldier's arms dropped before the rest of his body collapsed, landing on the sand with a thud. Hearing the thud was when Catalina realized that she had fallen too.

Gasping for breath, she scrunched up her eyes and brought her shaky hands to her chest. They didn't want to feel what was there, even though she could already sense what was going on in her heart. It was no longer thudding. But her stomach was. Catolina let out a squeak as she brought her hands down to her bulge that she could feel kicking, kicking harder now, like it was fighting to break down the wall that was keeping it inside. Trying to ignore the fountain of blood running through the three large holes on her shirt and staining a deep crimson red, she brought her trembling hands down to her belt and fumbled out another grenade.

Of course back at home, Avocato was also in the action and there was nothing to hold him back. Wielding his massive blasters, one in each hand, it only took one shot and any soldier who dared to approach him ended up on the ground with a flickering gaping massive hole in their chest. One particularly gutsy soldier tried to wrap his arms around his neck from behind. Avocato grunted and dropped his weapons, spluttering for breath as the soldier tightened his grip around him. He quickly reached down and fished out the blood knife attached to his belt so he could stab his attacker from behind. The soldier screamed and his grip on Avocato's neck loosened a little, allowing Avocato to dig out the blood knife and stick it in the soldier's head. The soldier made a gagging sound, his arms immediately dropping and Avocato yanked out the knife, kicking him away like a rag doll.

Before he could take in his little victory of the fifteen soldiers he had defeated, his ears pricked up to a loud BOOM in the distance. Avocato immediately whipped around and even though he knew that sound had come from an explosion of some sort, he still stiffened when he saw the fiery cloud in the distance.

That was where his wife had headed down.

Before he even knew what it was, his legs had taken off down the street, down towards the shop. That soldier's attack had left him more breathless than he needed to be, but his legs refused to stop, only run faster. Avocato went to rub his neck when he realized the only weapon he had with him was a blood knife, but some things were more important than quality weapons. He was not turning back. Only forwards.

He skidded to a halt when his eyes caught sight of the fallen plastic bag with spilled milk, smooshed cake and crushed cookies. Just as he stopped to examine, his nose picked up the scent of smoke . . . that burnt sand smoke. He took off again, his foot splashing in the milk puddle as he sprinted full speed towards that black cloud in the distance. He could only see one corpse in the distance and it was just another soldier. He scrunched up his eyes and thrust his head to the sky, silently praying that she was still alive. He leapt through the smoke cloud, opened up his eyes and there she was, still alive . . . barely.

"Catolina . . ."

Her white eyes brightened when she saw him. She was lying there, clutching onto her wound, but every time she pressed against it, she squeezed out only more blood and squeaked from the impact. Avocato dived down to her and sat onto his knees so he could take her in his arms and rest her head on his arm and lap. She scrunched up her eyes as he did so, making pained straining noises, gasping for breath.

"You're okay. I got you. Okay," Avocato wheezed, eyeing the leaking wound in her chest. It was running fast. His first intention was to raise his right wrist where he kept a small blaster. He aimed it at her wound and shot out a green fluid, one he used regularly to heal the most severe of injuries and stop all bleeding.

The fluid covered her wound where the bullets had worked themselves in, but yet some blood still crept out. The couple stared at it in hopeful dread. Then Catolina looked up at her husband and scrunched up her eyes as blood suddenly squirted out of her mouth.

"No!" Avocato immediately repositioned himself, trying to fix her in the most painless way possible so she was sitting up perfectly straight. Catolina coughed and spluttered as she tried her best to go along with him. She watched as her husband dropped the blood knife next to her and tried to find a way to scoop her up without her losing any more blood. She felt another kick down in her stomach, a weaker one. Her brain began to spin. She grabbed Avocato's arm in a shaky blood soaked hand.

"Avocato-"

"Just you hold on! I'm gonna get you home, and I'm gonna get those things out of ya!"

Catolina was eyeing the blood knife next to her. Just as Avocato was about to lift her up, she spluttered and more blood escaped out.

"Stop, stop!"

The blood spraying out was enough to stop Avocato from lifting her up any further. The healing fluid on her chest was running, allowing more blood to escape, drenching her shirt and fur so much, it was turning almost black from it all. With them sitting down, Avocato raised his wrist to shoot more of the healing fluid while Catolina just managed to take up the blood knife and raise it towards him. The blood loss had taken so much strength out of her arm, that she struggled to raise it up, like she was holding a brick or a heavier rifle.

"You need to get the baby out."

Avocato had just been about to apply more healing fluid onto her chest when he froze there. He blinked. He looked at the blood knife and then the Ventixian, his wife on his knee holding it at him almost pleadingly. His eyes widened to the point where they almost bulged out of his sockets. He shook his head.

"No. I'm taking you home!"

"It's not gonna happen!" Her voice came out in a rasp that could not yell it loud enough, no matter how hard she pushed it. Avocato pretended she wasn't trying to yell and shot more fluid onto her chest and rubbed it in. Catolina winced in pain as he withdrew his hand and attempted to scoop her up again.

"Come on!"

"Avocato!"

He stopped and stared at her. Her bright eyes were losing their shine. Her teeth, stained red were chattering.

"I can feel him kicking. He's getting weaker. You need to get him out!"

"No." Avocato tried to roll her into his arms so she would be easier to carry but despite her state, she realized what he was doing and lay down flat on his knee. Avocato gritted his teeth, his ears tilting back in frustration, in fear. "Catolina, don't you dare!"

Catolina wavered the knife in his face. "It's just me or it's both of us!"

Avocato was just about to lift her up when she said that. He stopped completely. Her words seemed to hit him like the bullets that had left her like this. A shaky breath escaped his lips. He looked down at his wife who wavered the knife in his face. He found his hand raising up to let her hand the knife to him. Catolina just managed to force a reassuring nod as Avocato slowly steered his eyes towards that bulge on her chest. Slowly, cautiously, he slid down his knee, lowering Catolina onto his hand. Even when he did it as gently as he possibly could and lay her head on the sand, she still coughed out another run of blood.

"Do it quickly."

The knife in Avocato's right hand was wobbling as he brought his fingers to her shirt, folding it away to reveal the bulge in her stomach covered by blood stained fur. He brought the knife to her stomach and gently brushed it with the tip. He then remembered his healing fluid and quickly squirted that over her, hoping that it would act as an anesthetic of some sort. As he rubbed it over her stomach, he felt a little kick. It was a helpless one coming from a child that needed to come out now. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to cut into it straight away. He glanced at his wife lying there and slowly brought the knife down, gently brushing her stomach with it. Nothing happened.

"JUST DO IT!"

Hearing his wife scream, Avocato let out a screech of anguish, a screech of frustration. Yet he somehow managed to bring the knife down and dig it deep into her skin and running it through her stomach, cutting it right open. He heard his wife splutter next to him and clawed his free fingers. Inside, he could see what he guessed was the amniotic sack, bright and shiny red. His knife in his hand was no longer wobbling but it was still trembling as he brought it down to cut it through.

"Okay, here we go . . ."

Avocato bit his lip as he ran the tip of the blade through the sack. He pulled the knife back and it didn't open. Avocato groaned and brought the tip down again and the sack popped open. His eyes widened again and his ears picked up a squeak- a tiny mew begging for help in there.

"I hear him!" Avocato straightened a little but leaned down over his wife's stomach again, very carefully cutting away more of the sack, allowing a tiny wet blood stained head to peep through. "There he is!"

"What's it-" Catolina spat out a mouthful of blood so she could gasp for precious air. "What does he look like?"

"I don't know!" Avocato dropped the knife and dug his bare hands right in, wrapping them around the little kitten's head. Catolina winced, her fingers clenching, grabbing onto the sand around her, only for it to run through her fingers. Avocato was really kneeling over her stomach with the child inside now, giving little tugs with just enough force to encourage the child out, but enough care so that neither mother nor child would feel any more pain.

"Come on, son!" Avocato took the baby's arms between his thumb and fingers and slowly raised him out, cord and all, dripping wet in fluid. He brushed the fur and blood and fluid away from his eyes shut tight as it twitched and stretched, allowing air into its lungs for the first time. As Avocato raised the knife to cut away the cord, Catolina slowly forced her head up. She squinted her sagging eyes, trying to force her vision to focus so she could get a somewhat decent look at her new child.

"He's out?"

"Yeah, I got him out."

"Lemme see."

Catolina's breaths were growing shorter and weaker with each one she took as Avocato crawled over with the newborn in his arms.

"Here."

Catolina tried to raise her arms, but they had glued themselves to the ground, covered in blood and sand. She could just look and force her her over to the newborn and rub her nose against him.

"Hi little one."

The baby opened its mouth and shut it again. It sniffled a little before squeaking and finally beginning to cry, as it took in more air. It made Catolina chuckle, just about.

"I think he looks like me."

The corners of Avocato's lips wobbled upwards but stayed the same serious expression. With the baby in one arm, he worked his hand down underneath Catolina's heavy head. "Right, I'm taking him home."

"And who do you expect to carry this little cato?" she rasped.

Again, Avocato paused. It was a fair question. One he didn't want to know the answer to, though he probably did already. He looked down at his wife who blinked weakly, her playful smile slowly fading.

"Hey." She sniffed and let out a small hiccup, more blood trickling down her face. "You're to take good care of him, okay?" Her raspy voice croaked. A small tear escaped from her shimmery eye.

"Catolina . . ." Avocato's ears pricked up to the sound of approaching soldiers from behind, but he refused to budge from his wife's side. He worked his free hand around her head more so he could wipe away the blood and the tear from her face. It only stained her dark orange fur an ugly scarlet.

"Just go. They're gonna get you."

The baby was crying louder now, stretching his little hands towards the dying voice. Avocato looked down at him, tilting his ears down to block out the sound of the stomping approaching army.

"Avocato, promise me you'll take care of him."

Avocato's grip around his newborn son tightened a little. He raised a foot and quickly crouched down over his wife, pressing his lips against hers for what he knew would be their final kiss. With the emotion he poured in, he quietly prayed that he would pour some life into her but heard her splutter, trying to hold out the blood, and he knew he would have to have to go.

As she coughed out more blood, noticeably less than last time, he squeezed the fluff on her cheek, gazing deeply into her sunken faded eyes.

"I promise, Catolina. I promise I'll look after him."

A chunk of sand behind him was blasted away and the bang that followed it confirmed that it was time to leave, for the newborn's sake. He went to dash off but not before planting one last loving kiss on his wife's forehead. And then he took off. With only a crying newborn in his arms, the only place he could go was between that row of houses over there. Avocato grabbed the house wall in his free hand and spun around it. The baby in his arm was still screeching, no doubt for a mother to hold him tight.

"Shhh." Avocato brushed his little cheeks with his fingers, gently bouncing him up and down, trying to bounce some reassurement in him. "It's okay . . ."

Another loud BOOM filled the air and Avocato scrunched up his eyes, squeezing the howling baby against his chest to shield him from the blast that came from behind. That sandy smoky smell seeped into his nostrils again and his ears picked up the gory sounds of squelching and splattering. Opening his eyes, Avocato glanced around the wall, holding the baby tight against him. He gasped in horror when he saw a big black hole where his wife had been, replaced by raging fire and poisonous black smoke. Where the fire blazed, soldiers whooped and cheered and then raced past the father and the screeching child.

Avocato somehow managed to force his feet to trudge out of his hiding place over to the spot where those soldiers had been cruel enough to do what they had done. His body was swaying, but he refused to drop down for fear of collapsing on top of the child in his arms. All he could do was stare at the damage with no trace of Catolina anywhere. The newborn son was screeching louder, louder than the gunshots in the background, as if he was crying for both father and son.

With that, Avocato shut his eyes, heaving one last heavy sigh. His ears were dropped. Gary blinked at him before slowly steering his head towards Mooncake who floated there in fascination. The astronaut opened his mouth, trying to force some words out. All he could manage was a small "Damn."

"Yeah," Avocato murmured bitterly. "That was Lord Commander's army that took her. Didn't even give her a chance."

"What a bunch of dick-holes." Gary shook his fist. "I mean who does that? Shoot a pregnant lady and then blow her up! Why can't a lady just die in peace? WHY CAN'T A LADY JUST-" When he noticed Avocato's lip wobbling, he calmed himself down and wrapped his arm around his shoulders and pulled him in close. "Makes your quest to find your son more urgent, huh? Because you feel it. You feel that need to avenge your loving wife and reunite your amazing family!"

"Damn right I do!"

"Of course you do! I feel it too!"

Avocato frowned at Gary next to him. "No. You can't feel it unless you go through it."

"Oh no," said Gary. "When it's your best buddy telling you that story, you feel it. You feel every bit of pain that happens in that painful story. It's painful! I bet you want the Lord Commander to feel that pain. I bet you want to murder his face! And his butt. And his butthole. And his dick." Gary paused. "I don't know if Lord Commanders have dicks but I'll murder it off anyway! Because that's what friends do for each other!"

"Heh. There are times when I wanna do that." Avocato smiled a little and wrapped his arm around Gary's back. "You're a good friend, Gary. It helps."

"Chookity-pa!" Mooncake spun around the two friends and bounced up to Avocato who rolled his eyes but happily patted the little alien.

"And you, Mooncake."

"Woooooooo!" Mooncake smiled and nuzzled against Avocado's dark fur, making him smile a little wider.

"Alright." Gary pulled away from Avocato, dusting off his hands. "Next opportunity we get, we are gonna find Little Cato and then we are gonna murder Lord Commander's face and butt and possible dick off! FOR CATOLINA!"

"Yeah!" Avocato stood up so he could clasp hands with Gary. The two of them shook their hands tight, nodding proudly at each other.

"For Catolina."

And there you go, my first story for Final Space! Hope you liked it!

Please Read and Review and be sure to check out my other stories. Reviews especially, they mean a lot to me because I put so much effort into these and I like to know what you guys think! I'll definitely write some more Final Space if the ideas come.

Also be sure to check me out on DeviantART because I'm a lot more active there, I talk a lot about Final Space and other shows I love.

Anyways, I'll see ya! ;)