Angel: Oh god, this episode...just why...This-this has to be my least favorite episode out of the entire series, let alone season 2—FOR GOOD DAMN REASON. Seriously, why did the executives insist that the beginning needed to happen? And I had to fucking write it *blank look* I definitely did not like revisiting this episode...
Seriously, if we get another episode with a beginning like this one, it'll be well up there with this episode to be the least favorite out of every other episode.
If you're reading this story and you haven't seen this episode yet, I would say avoid it, but it introduces a character that the others interact with later, so you kinda need to watch it to understand who the new character is—but just avoid like the first two minutes and 20 seconds of this episode...at least Olan Rogers actually admitted on Reddit that the joke in the beginning was never actually supposed to be used. Not only are the first two minutes fucking gross, some parts of the episode just creeps me out in more ways than one. Like...the Fluffles feel like they stare into my soul. This episode literally made it hard for me to sit through watching when I got into the show, let alone write the whole thing. I took like a week just to type this up.
Yes, even writing Avocato's death was less hard than this entire episode! Just like that episode made me sad while writing it, this one just made me uncomfortable beyond all belief while writing it. And also pissed off.
Let's just get this one over with...
Gary paced around in front of everyone except Clarence and his 'children' because they had a pressing matter. One that really needed to be discussed within their group.
"We need to get this ship out of Clarence's clutches once and for all," He stated, looking towards the others. "Any ideas?"
"Chookity pok. Chookity."
Gary felt like he wanted to barf after hearing Mooncake's suggestion. "Ugh! That might be the most disgusting thing I've ever heard."
"Your incivility is only exceeded by your buffoonery," Clarence commented as he walked past. "Bango! Got him. Keep those lips warm for me, my favorite star and daughter of a Titan," He blew a kiss at Nova, who gave a disgusted look. None of them bothered to correct the three about the fact that she was technically not biologically related to Bolo. Because for one, that wouldn't stop Clarence from a death sentence given to him by Nova. And two, it might make for good leverage if he wouldn't stop being a literal dick.
"Give me a blaster and five minutes, and I'll assassinate that slimy little hobgoblin," Nightfall glared at where he walked past.
"More like a dirty old grandpa who can't take no for an answer," Nova deadpanned at her. "I'm getting really tired of the flirting, but if we kill him, Fox and Ash won't forgive us. And whether you like it or not, he was technically the reason that Bolo managed to get in contact with us again."
"Are you defending Clarence?" Gary stared at her in disbelief.
"Hell no! I'm just saying that we can't kill him without making it obvious to his kids that we had done it. I mean, even if I wasn't retired, the difference between him and other targets are the stakes," She held up a finger.
"Ugh, she's right," Nightfall looked away reluctantly. If they hadn't stolen the cube for Clarence, they wouldn't be on their current quest to find the Dimensional Keys, but that wasn't saying much...
Little Cato leaped down from hanging from the ceiling. "I got it."
Gary pushed away KVN, interested immediately. "Ooh. What's the plan?"
"They say the ship belongs to them," Little Cato jerked a thumb to the doorway.
"Yes."
"We know it's ours," He continued, jerking a thumb to himself.
"Yeah?"
"Time to reclaim this property the Ventrexian way," He cracked his knuckles, Gary pausing.
"...And how is that done?"
"Trust," Little Cato grinned and then ran out of the room.
"Okay...what did I just agree to?"
"As long as it works, I don't care," Nova shrugged at him.
Gary crawled down into the mess hall, where he saw Little Cato zipping up his pants. "Mission accomplished."
"Mission accom—oh!" He smelled the room and was very grossed out. "Oh! It smells like—oh! Did you just...piss all over the ship?!"
"That's how you claim territory where I come from," Little Cato placed his hands on his hips with a proud smile.
"By pissing everywhere?!" Gary stepped over a pee puddle. He chuckled and held out his hand. "You brilliant rascal."
Little Cato high-fived him and then Clarence entered the room. He slipped from a puddle, landing on his back. "Your Ventrexian just pissed all over my ship!" He flicked his hand in disgust.
"That's right, he did," Gary bragged to him. "The Crimson Light is ours, yo! We reclaimed it! The all-natural way."
"Pardon me, but did you say you claimed my ship?" Clarence dusted himself off.
"It's been reclaimed!"
"Reclaimed!" Little Cato added in as the two did their own high-five.
"Reclaimed! That's Ventrexian Piss Etiquette 101! Once the piss hits the stuff, it's ours!"
"Fox?" Clarence called out, the Tryvuulian coming into the room out of nowhere.
"Yes, father?"
"Piss it up," He snapped his fingers. "It's time to reclaim our territory." They both unzipped their pants and...started peeing.
"Oh no, Spider Cat. They're double pumping!" Gary stated and they narrowed their eyes, reaching towards their pants.
"I think I got some more in me, Thunder Bandit!"
It had gone from marking territory to a pissing war. "Juice it! Juice it up!" All four started peeing, with no signs of stopping. "Don't cross the streams, little buddy," Gary then got sprayed in the face with piss and started to gag. "Oh! It's in my—it's in my mouth! I got it in my mouth!"
Nightfall, who had been watching, simply changed her screen to a soap opera. She wanted nothing to do with any of that.
KVN suddenly floated into the mess hall. "KVN's pissing too!" A sprinkler appeared from his body to spray oil and thankfully not piss.
"In the place of a dark lord, you will have a queen!" Ash declared, activating her powers. "Behold, pi-" She got hit in the face with piss as well.
Mooncake flew in and dropped blue little pellets onto Fox and Clarence. "Chookity!"
"Gary, I'm scared," Little Cato admitted to him while they were hiding behind a table.
"We gotta rejuice!" Gary declared and everyone took a drink that was provided by HUE. Then they started pissing again, either dodging, peeing, or getting hit in the face with pee. HUE got hit by four streams of pee as he was just standing there. Mooncake hit the floor when he got hit.
Nova suddenly slid down the ladder. "Are you guys done—oh god!" She turned away, covering her eyes with her hand once she saw them. The group stopped what they were doing, Little Cato looking very embarrassed. "Why and how do I keep walking in on stuff like this?!"
"You like what you see, my precious little star?" Clarence leaned in towards her with his pants still open and she gagged, covering her eyes.
"Get it back into your pants, I'd rather deal with moonobumps than this!" She then sniffed the air, covering her nose. "Oh my god, is this—are you guys just pissing everywhere?! Ugh, I need to...I just need to upchuck," She quickly crawled back up.
"Alert. A vessel is approaching our location," AVA interrupted as they zipped themselves up. "And Ash, you now have a UTI."
"Yes!" She cheered at this, smiling.
The ship in question was a cone-shaped ship with red glowing from it, and it was huge. "I've never seen a ship like this before," AVA stated as everyone was looking at it, Little Cato's mouth open in awe.
"These guys do not look friendly," Gary commented, looking up at the ceiling. "AVA, spool up the lightfold engines."
"Spooling," The engines revved up.
"Alright, lightfold." Before they could, their ship was grabbed by electrical ropes. "Okay, this is great. Getting pulled into the big ship while we're all smelling like piss."
"It's a big ship," Nightfall stated to everyone. "Could be Raiders, could be the Burner Tribe."
Nova stiffened at the latter and Little Cato raised a brow at her. Since she was a bounty hunter, she could have been involved with them...
"Oh, Raiders. Ooh, yeah. Okay, Burner Tribe. Could have been a little bit of Burner Tribe."
"Trust me, it's not the Burner Tribe," Nova laughed nervously at Gary.
"Why are you acting weird?" Little Cato asked her and she bit her lip.
"Let's just say that it's a story for another day..."
"Let's just hope it's not the Chomper Club," Nightfall narrowed her eyes.
"The Chomper Club?" Gary asked as nervously as the former bounty hunter was acting just a few seconds ago.
"Or half of us will be killed, skinned, or eaten alive."
"Skinned and eaten alive. That's the whole—the whole gamut there. Okay. Well, you got a real sunny deposition," Gary stated to her, as Quinn was nothing like that.
"I have a partly cloudy deposition with a high in the mid-60s."
"Ooh, that sounds like a perfect day!" KVN commented happily.
Everyone started arming themselves in the hangar bay. Little Cato grabbed some grenades. "I'm ready to blow things up with these!" He glanced at Nova holding a bottle of water, and she sprayed some onto her face. He walked up to her, still feeling awkward from earlier.
"Hey…whatcha doing?" Little Cato asked casually.
"Trying to wash my eyes out…"
"I'm sorry you had to see that," He rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "It's just, on Ventrexia, to mark our territory, we—"
"Stop, I really do not want to hear the end of this or where it's going," She held up a hand in disgust. "I get that it's customary on your planet, but I was there 2 years ago and…and some people there marked their territory all over my ship…"
"Ooh," He winced at that. It was Lord Commander's personal ship, which helped with that fact a little. But Nova still had to fly it, so he could imagine that she had to physically clean piss for probably hours on end. She then leaned in to whisper so that no one else would hear.
"Here's a tidbit though: I never wanna get pissed on if it comes to that. I don't roll with it. Oh, and nice sized wiener."
His mouth opened in shock as she smirked, wiggling her fingers as she walked away to get her own weapons. He wasn't even thinking about claiming Nova in that way until she mentioned it. Mainly because he wanted to give her time to process everything that happened lately…
"…Wait, what was that last part?!" He blushed and covered part of his skirt with his hands. It only now just hit him that she saw his penis… "Oh, I'm never gonna live this down."
"They're going downtown, y'all," KVN declared while holding two guns.
They all glared at the door except for Clarence, ready to fight. "Alright, when the door opens...we rain a hell-storm of laser fire, killing everything in sight. On three...one..." The door slowly opened. "Two...three!"
The group ran out into the open, but were surprised to be met with a red alien that looked like a fluffy toy, and his smile on his face was really creeping Nova out. It just felt unnatural and not pleasant to look at... "Hello, hello, hello! Welcome to the Happy Place!" He greeted them in a voice that just sounded too happy for anyone. He laughed as he was surrounded by fluffy purple aliens. "It's where we harness the power of your happiness and use it to light up the entire world!"
"What?" Everyone murmured in confusion, dropping their weapons.
"That's so freaking beautiful!" Fox shed a few tears, Ash giving a wide-eyed horrified look.
Gary laughed, placing his gun on his shoulder. "I like it. And I like you," The red alien looked humbled as he giggled, hands on his cheeks. "You're weird, and I especially like those freaks in the hover canoe. Yo, freaks!"
"Hey!" They waved to him from above.
"I'm Hushfuffles!" The red alien pointed to himself, laughing and gesturing to the purple ones. "And these are my Fluffles! And we are going to be your best friends ever!"
"No you won't!" KVN defended, hugging Gary's neck. "This one's off limits. He's mine, all mine!"
"A huggle for you," A Fluffle hugged Fox.
"Thank you!"
"And another huggle for you," Another one went up to him and hugged him, earning a happy look from him.
One of them approached Ash. "You want a huggle?"
Ash floated up in anger, her eye turning black. "You wanna die?!"
"Uhh, did I take any drugs this morning?" Nova murmured to herself as she felt awkward. Seriously, it felt like she had taken ecstasy just looking at this place and these people.
"Who wants a Chewy Mind-Bendy or a Super-Smile Gooey Ball?" Hushfuffles held up two yellow candies, one a gummy and the other one probably a jawbreaker.
"What flavor?" Nightfall asked him.
"Lemon."
"...I'm good," Nightfall answered after a few seconds.
"Okay, but where's my question for you: if you're all so nice and that kind of shit, why did you drag us in here like in a b-tier horror movie?" Nova asked and Hushfuffles stared at her, tilting his head in a creepy way. He then shoved both candies into her mouth and she gagged.
"Taste the lemon!"
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" She asked, spitting them out onto the ground. This guy could've choked her, all because of a simple question.
"I have a brilliant idea," Clarence appeared out of nowhere, probably guided by his money compass. "I'm going to sell this place to some sucker," He cracked his knuckles.
"It doesn't even belong to you, Clarence," Gary pointed out to him.
"Yes..." He looked at his knuckle. "But the sucker buying it doesn't know that. Ash, Fox, don't let my 'property' get away," He gestured to Nova, Little Cato, and Gary, all of them giving annoyed looks towards his way.
Gary pointed his gun at the back of Clarence's head. "No one would know..."
"His kids would, so stop getting any ideas," Nova whispered to him. He grunted as he looked over his shoulder, putting the gun down.
"Now!" Hushfluffles appeared in front of them and the girl yelped, hiding behind Little Cato. "Who wants to go to their happy place?! It's the most fun, dreamlike world where all your inner fantasies come to life!" He laughed rather manically.
"Me, me, me!" Everyone except the girls volunteered themselves. For Nova, she had long since trying to give up and find a happy place, because it had died three years ago. Not to mention something about this place was creeping her out.
"Well, I choose Gary Goodspeed!" Hushfluffles pointed right at Gary, chuckling in a very creepy way.
Gary stared at him in shock. "Oh, hey, you know my name."
"Sure! It's not every day somebody loses a planet!" He hugged Gary with one arm. "You're famous, just as much as Nova over there. After all, we've got you and the daughter of a Titan who's wanted in the entire universe."
"How did you know that second detail?" She asked cautiously, sweating nervously. That fact hadn't gotten around anywhere except for within the Crimson Light, so it wouldn't make sense that he would know something only her friends knew. And she highly doubted that someone like him would look into one person who was part of a universe-destroying race.
"We're famous?" Gary seemed a bit upset as his reaction.
Hushfluffles then flew off with him while laughing. "Yes!"
A whole group of Fluffles had surrounded Fox. "My greatest day just got better," He fanned a hand in front of his face, trying to stop the tears.
"Something's off about this place," Nightfall glanced around skeptically.
"Yeah, that guy feels like he knows way too much," Nova narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Ash glanced between her and Little Cato, remembering their interactions from when she first met them. Their relationship was a little hard to pin down, and something was piquing her curiosity.
"Hey, Nova," Ash poked her shoulder.
"What?" She glanced over to the girl, Mooncake flying over.
"Can I adopt your pet?"
"Mooncake? He's not technically mine, I didn't even name him myself," Nova glanced up to him. "He's more of an old friend than a pet to me. But he is pretty marketable, and I mean that in the best way possible."
"Chookity!" He landed on her head, smiling.
"No, I mean him," Ash jerked a thumb to Little Cato, earning a very deep blush from Nova.
"H-Huh?!" She screeched a bit and the cat alien glanced at the two, having not heard them. She smiled nervously and led Ash away so they could talk alone. "L-Look, Little Cato's not a pet, he's his own person. And even by that criteria, he's not mine!"
"You mean you don't have any affection for him? Because everyone knows you two have something going on."
"I-er-" Nova stammered a bit. "Well, yes and no. I'm not sure what I feel for him, but we are definitely not in a relationship." It was after she said that word that she realized that these feelings of hers—the new emotions she wasn't used to back in the Galaxy One—they might have something to do with...actually liking Little Cato...
Maybe it was because she hadn't felt this way in a long time, and was just not used to it, but she knew that she definitely felt obligated to defend him, or get angry if he was hurt. Why was it so hard to describe?
Maybe it would just go away.
"And I'm pretty sure that pet adoption doesn't work like th—"
"So I can have him as a pet! Thanks!" She ran off, leaving Nova standing there in shock. Then she sighed deeply.
"Damn it, Little Cato, why you?" The girl muttered to herself, pinching her nose. What hell had she just brought onto the both of them?
Gary was laying down in a pod with very soft bedding. Hushfluffles was holding a suspicious syringe.
"Get ready, Gary. Your journey's about to begin!" He giggled again with that creepy grin.
"Oh, god," Gary watched the alien walk over to him. "Okay, are you sure about this?" The alien then stuck the needle into his neck. "What are you injecting me with?"
"Hyper 7-6. We're gonna take you to your most special happy place!"
"Yeah, of course. Okay," Gary was then encased into the pod. "Yeah, totally. I could use a day off."
"Have fun!" The alien waved to him. "It's going to get wild!" He laughed as Gary was lifted up into the air, surrounded by several other pods. His eyes were closed as he had fallen asleep. Then everything changed to black and purple. "You're going to your happy place! Happy place! Happy place!"
His voice tuned out as Gary was standing in a forest clearing, the sun setting. He cut some firewood, sweat on his face and his shirt off. "Ahh, I forgot how much I love chopping wood," He flexed his robot arm, which shined a bit.
Then a limo appeared from the sky in front of his log cabin. Hushfluffles ran out of it. "The Overlord and his army of Frost Bears are destroying everything in sight! We need you. You're the one, Gary," He pleaded with the blond.
Gary prepared another log of wood. "Sorry, Hushfluffles. I'm retired." He then cut the piece in half. "Got kids, a family, this wood."
"Papa! Papa!" Two kids cheered as they ran out of the cabin, followed by their mother. All of them were made out of cookies, with eyes and mouths.
"Gary, go," The cookie told him. "Become the hero you were born to be. But first, give me some smooches." She walked over to the man.
"Oh, hell yeah, Cookie Wife, get in here." They started kissing very provocatively in front of their kids. "Put those chocolate chips in my mouth." The two cookie kids just glanced at each other with smiles. "Hell yeah." He pulled away from her with his mouth smeared in chocolate. "These Frost Bears, they have a weakness?"
"Yes! Super-good dancing. And super-good dancing is what makes you happiest!" Hushfluffles answered him.
"Wait, how do you know that?" Gary asked in the same manner that Nova asked about the Titan thing.
"Because happiness is our business!"
"Papa," The cookie boy spoke up. "Are you gonna dance them to death?"
"I'll see...what I can do," Gary turned around with sunglasses on.
Gary slept with a smile on his face, unaware that there was a tube hooked up to him.
The rest of the team were taking a tour of the place on a flying canoe. "This all seems too perfect," Nightfall stated to the others.
Fox laughed at the sights in front of him, Ash probably the only one looking bored out of her mind. Nova just looked annoyed that no one else seemed to be noticing what was wrong here. The Fluffle stepped up to Nova.
"Would you like to be next to go to your happy place?"
"I'd be a lot more happier if you just stay the hell away. Just...go back to where you were," She stated, waving him off. He tilted his head in a creepy way, staring at her for a few seconds before going back to his spot. "Weirdo..."
Ash lifted up her head once she saw something.
"Nightfall, Nova, look at this."
Out the window, the three saw corpses flung out of the ship, and they all seemed shriveled up...
"This place just got a lot less happy," Nightfall glared a little.
"Unless you like floating dead bodies..."
"Which isn't up their alley," Nova agreed with her.
"In which case, this place is pretty terrific," KVN added in, leaning in towards Nova. She pushed him away out of annoyance.
"We've got to find Gary," Nightfall ran up to the Fluffle and knocked the oar out of his hands. She then put him into a hold. "Where's Gary and what have you done with him?"
The Fluffle's eyes turned red as he changed his demeanor. "He's having a dream in his happy bubble."
Lasers shot past Nightfall's head, because all of the Fluffles had turned on them. Nightfall threw the Fluffle off the boat.
"Hmm. Suddenly, I'm less relaxed," HUE stated and then their boat was blasted down. "Oh." They had a rough landing in front of a waterfall, and when the Fluffles turned it over, they were gone. The manhole cover for the sewers was open, though.
Gary, in his dream, was in a dystopian city. It felt like sort of a techno city with all of the blue and purple neon colors. Two small bears shot two cookies to death. Then they looked up to the sky to see the limo approaching. Gary jumped down from it, soaring over gracefully. He landed in front of the group of evil bears.
"What kind of Frost Bear...would murder rainbow cookies in cold blood?!" He demanded them in anger.
"You think you're gonna stop us?" One of them asked with a sadistic grin.
"Unlucky for you...I'm here..." His foot began to tap to music. "To dance."
"Don't let him dance! Get him!"
They started shooting at Gary, who danced to block the shots. He spun around and then pointed a finger, blasting off the heads of two bears somehow. Then he slid over and another one exploded behind him. He moonwalked past one, destroying it, and ducked his head near another, defeating that one as well. He continued dancing to defeat the bears, his hair emitting sweat for the final blow. Only one was left and he stepped up to it.
"Zenbar 9 is free. Tell the Overload his reign of terror...is over."
"Over?" The bear asked boastfully. "You're over!"
He started to get a nosebleed in his dream, and that was because his real body's nose was starting to bleed. It was one of the effects of being in the dream for too long.
"A dance wound," Gary didn't pay any mind to it and stood up. "It won't stop me. I have a date with the Overload."
"Ha ha ha, good luck. While you were here, he captured your wife and kids!" He started laughing again.
"Oh no. Cookie wife! Cookie kids!" He spun around in the air to kill the bear in front of him. He then ran towards the limo and slid over it. "I'm coming!" He got into the car with Hushfluffles and they took off into the sky.
The others were walking in the sewers, Nightfall and Nova leading the way. The future Quinn had a flashlight while Nova was using her light to replenish her energy in the dark tunnel. They trudged into the tunnel, a hand grabbing HUE's arm. He looked down to see an old man emerging.
"Help...me..." HUE helped support him. "You have to get me out of here."
"We have some questions," Nova spoke up as she, Nightfall, Little Cato, and Mooncake walked over.
"What is this place?" Nightfall demanded to the old man.
"Oh...it's a power plant. They harvest the energy you generate from your happy place. They were especially pleased when they searched into the Titans after hearing the name Gary Goodspeed. They wanted to bring the daughter of one Titan to extort her power to use on the rest of his friends..."
"That's why that guy knew about you," Little Cato glanced to Nova.
"Doesn't mean I like knowing why," She narrowed her eyes in anger. How dare they even want to use her powers for that? She might not like using them, but that didn't mean she wanted to give them up for sinister purposes. And even the reason for all that from this place was really messed up.
"They use your happy place to power everything in the galaxy," The old man added weakly.
"Even toasters?" KVN wondered and Nova facepalmed.
"Oh, yes."
"What about radios?"
"Oh, I'm sure of it."
"Electric toothbrushes?"
"I...suppose."
"Paper towels?"
"Oh my god," Nova rubbed a temple at that one.
"Oh, that's not electric."
"Uh, electric paper towels?"
"Oh, those are not real."
"But what if they were?"
"Oh...yes..." Then he literally passed out in HUE's arms.
"He's dead," HUE informed them.
"He's dead?! I had so many more questions!" KVN exclaimed and Nova crossed her arms.
"Just assume that they can power anything from here to the Milky Way. Moving on," She deadpanned to him.
"They're sucking the life out of Gary," Nightfall realized that he must've been taken so that they could steal his energy.
Clarence had found a buyer, or rather, someone gullible to extort. "You have any sugar water?" The alien asked him, looking around. "You really own this place?"
"Oh, dear, sweet, Tagaleechi. This property has been in my family since Sector RX-532 was but a glimmer in the Vernubla Nebula," Clarence explained, lying through his teeth, and the alien laughed.
"That has been a while."
"Oh, yes, it has," Clarence agreed with him. "Now make me an offer on this amazing place that I absolutely do own."
"Clarence!" Another alien who Clarence called over arrived.
"Fraskenhaur, you're just in time."
"What is this?" The first one asked in confusion.
"A bidding war!"
The others ran down the tunnel and found the room they were looking for. They looked down at dozens of pods, and it would take forever just to find one person.
"He's up there somewhere," Nightfall took a look for herself while the others looked horrified. "Go, Mooncake. Find Gary."
"Chookity pok-pok!" He flew past them and then into the air.
"Come on, Ashy, we're gonna get Dad's Gary back," Fox declared and jumped. "Whoo!"
"Uh, okay then," Nova blinked as she watched him.
"This one's coming with me!" Ash grabbed Little Cato by his ear. "Get over here."
He pushed her off immediately as Nova glared at the two. "I'm not a pet!" He protested to her.
"Says you," She patted him on the head. "I like you because you're all fluffy." He himself did not look amused by the compliment as KVN came over and touched his cheeks.
"I think he's fluffy too!"
Nova smacked them all off him. "Okay, stop touching him and let's just go!" Whether or not he was fluffy wasn't the issue, and plus, she did not like how Ash was treating him like he was just a regular cat. It irritated her, and no, she was not jealous...
Or was she?
She snapped out of it and activated her wings, flying off after Fox and Mooncake.
"Hooray!" KVN hugged Little Cato as he and Ash jumped.
"Gary, where are you?" Nightfall wondered to herself.
"In case you're interested, HUE is right here," The robot interrupted her, waving a hand. "Hey!"
Fox, Ash, Little Cato, and KVN landed on a pod. Little Cato gave a small look of disgust. "Eww, how long have they been siphoning these people?"
Ash turned him to face her. "Look, pets don't think. They just sit there and look cute, like you. Got it?!"
"Uh..." He stammered nervously, unsure of what to say.
"Great, keep doing that, and you might get a snack from my pop pop. Right, Mr. Yumsters?!" She hugged his face and Nova faintly saw them. She growled in anger, her eyes turning purple as her hair lifted up. She SO wanted to strangle Ash right about now...
Little Cato looked down and gasped. He looked up to the other pods. "Hey, Starlight!" He whistled and she flew over to them, glad that she could keep an eye on Ash. She landed gently between the two and Little Cato pointed down. She followed his gaze and gasped. It wasn't Gary, but it was...
"Tribore?!" The two asked in unison.
"Um...who's that?" Ash questioned them cluelessly.
"One of us."
"When we were fighting against a douche-who-shall-not-be-named, we lost some friends during the fight," Nova glanced over her shoulder. "And while most of them are back with us now...we hadn't seen Tribore since he was separated from us..."
Meanwhile, in his happy place, Tribore was riding a horse that had six eyes and his tongue sticking out like his rider. "One sun sets while the other rises. Why is there a big letter R on that second sun?" He glanced over his shoulder. "Does it stand for what I think it does? Yes. The Resistance. And I'm its leader," He pulled out a sword. "Tribore. The guardian of hope. Dream with me and live."
"Hooray!" His Resistance members cheered from down below.
They stared down into Tribore's pod as he was in the same state as Gary. However, his nose wasn't bleeding, and he seemed to be physically okay.
Fox used his cannon to break the glass, Nova and Little Cato pulling Tribore up. He opened his eyes and the cat alien chuckled in relief.
"How did you get here?"
"Weren't you launched into space and then never seen again?" Nova asked and he smacked their hands off of him.
"How the hell do I know?" He got onto his feet, the purple-haired girl giving him a slightly annoyed look. "The last thing I knew, I was saving the world, and I've been making inspirational speeches to the youth camps ever since."
"Were they well-received?" Ash wondered to him.
"Very! So why are we standing around here twiddling our wieners?"
"You know why?" KVN floated up to him. "We're saving my best friend."
"If he's caught in one of these things, he only has until his happy runs out," Tribore clenched a fist.
"Incoming question," Fox held up a finger. "How did you survive this long?"
"I'm a very jovial person. Okay, let's rock it to it."
In Gary's happy place, a bear was running up to the Overlord in his lair. "Overlord, Gary's here!" He suddenly exploded in the middle of the dance floor.
"Overlord!" Gary announced his presence as the car came to a stop. He jumped off the top of it and landed on the dance floor. "I've just got one thing I need to know," He slowly stood up, a toothpick in his mouth. "Where's Cookie Wife? Where's cookie kids?"
The Overlord stood up and jumped, landing several feet away in front of his adversary. He was a large blue alien with a Viking vibe to him. "Alive, but you'll never see them again unless...you outdance me," He challenged the blond.
"Hushfluffles...play the good stuff."
The alien held up a stereo that played music. Gary shook his hips and then did a set of complicated moves. Once he did a split, it was a blast that sent the Overlord sliding back a bit. But he just laughed at this. Gary looked up and then saw the Overlord do his dance.
"This is a move," He slid onto his knees, sending Gary a wind attack that sent him flying into a spotlight. Once he hit it, the Gary in the pod started to get a nosebleed. Some blood even trickled down from his mouth.
Dream Gary wiped his mouth clean, glaring up at the Overlord. "I'm laughing at you, heh heh heh."
"Dance, Gary! Dance!" Hushfluffles cheered for him.
Gary jumped onto the car's hood and then spun into the air. He landed safely, and gained another nosebleed. A bunch of cookies ran over and started dancing with him. His hair started emitting sweat, and it sent the Overlord flying backwards again. More cookies fell from the sky in front of Gary, who jumped and struck a pose. It sent the Overlord even further back. Then the cookies surrounded Gary and lifted him up into the air. He swung and flew around, sliding to the Overlord with his chest exposed.
He hit the Overlord in the groin once he passed underneath him. He got onto his feet and turned around to his enemy.
"You messed with the wrong guy," He took off his glasses and then put on a handsome face, winking.
"Man, can he dance."
Then the Overlord exploded out of defeat.
The cookie family were freed from a cage and they ran up to him. "Cookie kids! Cookie Wife!"
"Papa Gary, you saved us!" They shared a group hug.
"No..." Suddenly the cookies were shot at, killing them as they fell to pieces. "He didn't."
Gary gritted his teeth, looking in agony. "Ahh!" Hushfluffes stepped out of the smoke, holding a gun. "No! Cookie kids! Cookie Wife! Noooooooooooo!" He picked up a few crumbs, squeezing them in his robot hand. "You killed my cookie family," He accused the alien, having another nosebleed. He coughed as more blood flooded out.
"Now you know how I feel..." Hushfluffles pointed the gun at him.
Gary's pod started going critical because of his state. Mooncake floated in front of the glass with a panicked look. "Gar, Gar, Gar!" Because he didn't have his powers back, he had to resort to ramming the glass. After three times, he managed to break in. He took the cable with his mouth and got it off after a few tugs.
His happy place suddenly became flooded with Mooncake. "No, no, no!" Then he disappeared right in front of the red alien. "Noooo!"
Gary woke up startled, surrounded by his friends. And they looked relieved to see him. "Gary!" Little Cato exclaimed happily.
"I had...the strangest dream," He wiped all the blood off with the back of his hand, confused by the liquid on it.
Then monitors appeared with Hushfluffles on them. "You will not get away from me!"
"Oh no, it was real," Gary winced a bit.
"Gary, it must be nice to have the people you love around you. I would know because you killed all my loved ones! And now, I'm going to kill yours."
"What the hell is he talking about?" Nova whispered to Gary, who just held up his hands in denial.
"You're next, Nova!"
"Who are you?" He demanded to Hushfluffles. If it was Melanie's family, he'd understand the rage, but this guy looked nothing like him. Or the guy he drugged in a men's bathroom, for that matter. And neither of those guys even knew Gary's name.
He took off his mask, revealing that he was actually a human man in a costume. "You don't know me. I'm Todd H. Watson, and I know you and Nova. You see, you stole something from me when you lost the Earth!" Gary's eyes softened as a video of a boy and a woman appeared. Then Todd, not looking as disheveled as he did now, was staring at their scared faces.
"Holly! Jed!" He cried out to them as the woman hugged her son close. "Are you okay?!"
The woman screamed as they were taken away into Final Space. Todd screamed in agony after seeing them disappear.
"That was my family!" Todd screamed at the duo. Gary cringed, as they didn't stop this from happening, and the same thing happened to other survivors from this ordeal. Nova's mouth opened wide. A few tears escaped from Todd's eyes. "And then I intercepted your transmission."
Then the footage played of when Gary was talking to Quinn for the last time before she closed the breach. "We've lost the Earth, but I can still save you. Goodbye, Gary."
"I was trying to save the Earth," Gary insisted to him, Nightfall staring at him with sad eyes.
"I have nobody to blame but you. Making sure you suffer the same pain I have will be the last thing I do! And I'll use your friend over there to do it! Even if I have to siphon her powers out of her body!" He glared directly at Nova, who gritted her teeth.
"You're a sick fuck, you know that?! I'm not helping you do anything! You're just some coward in a mask who's bitter towards something that wasn't even entirely our fault!" She shouted, balling up her fists. She was sympathetic to those with lost families, but it was hard to feel that way towards Todd when he was doing all of this out of revenge.
"You're just as worse. After I saw that transmission, I looked into what happened. Imagine my surprise when I found out that a daughter of a Titan was involved!" She snarled up at him. "How could you be birthed by people who ruined lives?!"
"Back off!" Little Cato stood in front of her, hissing.
"Will all of this fix anything?" Todd gave a sadistic chuckle. "Let's give it a go!"
A turret appeared out of one of the monitors and began firing at them. Gary yelped as everyone except Tribore made a break for it.
"Is there any reason why I'm not running for my life?" After he looked up, he saw the monitors still firing. "Oh boy!" He finally ran out of there.
"2 million dropnoids," The second alien, Fraskenhaur, held up two fingers.
"4 million."
"5 million!"
"6 million!"
"7 quadtillion dropnoids," A random third alien spoke up.
"...Is that actually a number?" Clarence questioned after a few seconds.
"No."
"Get the hell out of here, Raymond," He kicked Raymond away.
"Clarence," He looked up to Fraskenhaur. "A property like this comes on the market once in a lifetime. You want to make sure that it goes into the proper hands," He then leaned into Clarence's ear. "70 million dropnoids."
"...I'm Clarence, I'm old, and that baby's sold!" He held up a blank contract and a pen.
"Clarence, we're gentlemen! We seal deals with handshakes," Fraskenhaur held out his hand. Clarence ripped up the contract and then shook his hand.
"Congratulations."
"Oh, no, Clarence, no. Ha ha ha! That's just one of my hands! You have to shake all," At least ten other arms appeared from his body. "Of them..."
Clarence opened his mouth in disbelief. This was definitely going to take a while...
The Team Squad, Nightfall, Fox, and Ash ran back into the main room, where they were met with Fluffles firing at them. The monitors flew after them. Nightfall, Fox, Nova started firing back with their own weapons, Fox knocking one down.
HUE suddenly stopped and turned around, holding a gun of his own. "This garbage bot gets rid of...garbage."
He knocked down a whole canoe full of Fluffles.
Ash and Nova both paused as a huge chunk of the ceiling was about to fall on them. Little Cato scampered over and pushed the both of them out of the way. Ash glanced at the two as the cat alien glanced down at Nova. He smiled at her and she smiled back.
"Starlight, usually you notice this kind of stuff."
"If you're there to catch me, then maybe I should do this more often," She winked and he blushed. Nova backflipped onto her feet and helped Little Cato stand up.
They managed to get back to the Crimson Light. "Pop Pop!" Fox called out to him. "Daddy! Get on the ship! Sir!"
He was still shaking Fraskenhaur's hands just so he could get his money. "As soon as I finish shaking this monster's hands."
"Here's one."
"Okay," Clarence shook the one near his shoulder.
"I've got another right over here."
"Yes. T-There seems to be no end to them," He stammered nervously.
"I forgot about that that one. Oh, I have so many hands."
Clarence just wanted to get this over with, because some of the hands were starting to make him uncomfortable.
"Okay," Gary stood on the ramp, gun ready. HUE was still 'running' over to the ship. "Run! HUE! Faster! Will you run faster?!"
"I'm already at maximum speed," HUE informed him and then KVN flew over, grabbing him.
"KVN is saving HUE!" He picked him up and flew back over to the ship.
"This puts the HUE in humiliation. Oh..."
"You're super welcome," KVN stated as they reached the ship.
"One more," Fraskenhaur dropped his pants and lifted up his cape. "That one's my favorite."
"You've got to be joking," Clarence commented in disgust as a hand came out of the alien's ass.
"Okay! Quick! Go!" Gary ran back inside, happy to leave him behind. "Leave! Take off without him!"
Clarence definitely did not want to touch that hand, so he turned around and ran off. "Wait! I'm coming! For God's sake, hold on," He managed to grip the edge of the ramp and crawl back inside.
The ship dodged falling debris as they managed to fly back out into space, with the door being closed off. A bunch of explosions occurred within Todd's ship and the Crimson Light lightfolded away from it. Todd watched them leave.
"This doesn't end here," He put his mask back on, laughing manically.
Fraskenhaur was still holding out his ass hand, apparently not noticing everything that had happened. "Anytime, Clarence!"
Gary was sitting alone in the bridge, thinking about the consequences that losing the Earth had brought...not only onto himself, but to Todd too.
"I'm not coming back..." Quinn shed a few tears. "Goodbye, Gary." Then the Earth was pulled into the breach.
He hadn't even considered how this had affected other people...just him. And now, he was responsible for the loss of Todd's family...and other families too. He wouldn't be surprised if someone else went after him or his friends because of what he had done.
"Hey," He glanced behind him as Little Cato was standing behind his chair, a small smile on his face.
"What's up?" Gary asked as the cat boy got a little closer.
"What are you doing?"
"Well, you know, just kind of feel like being alone, if that's okay," Gary told him.
"Yeah, sure," Little Cato agreed, but he didn't leave. The two just sat in silence.
"...Alright, not really what I had in mind, but sure." Then his friends came in. "Oh, I guess...I guess it's a party now."
"Did someone say party?" Tribore walked in, moonwalking over. "Because I think they did."
Nightfall placed a hand on Gary's shoulder. "You did not lose the Earth, Gary."
"Well...I sure as hell didn't save it, either, did I?"
"You tried your best," Little Cato added in.
"My dad once told me that," Gary looked away. "It was good enough for him...thing is...it's not good enough for me."
Little Cato frowned and Nova placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. She was silently telling him that Gary was just going through a lot right now.
"Worst party ever," Tribore declared at this.
"Gary...in every timeline, the Earth gets pulled into the breach. There was nothing you could do," Nightfall informed him.
"Yeah...I suppose so, but...why did all this horribleness have to happen through me?"
"You said something that helped me...when I was at my lowest point," Little Cato spoke up softly, remembering how he was when he lost his father. He was pretty much full of vengeance and not really considering that other people had a hatred for the Lord Commander too, like Nova. "We'll get through it together. As a team."
Gary looked at everyone that was still with him and who would be there for him. Nova and Little Cato both smiled at him and he put a hand in front of KVN's eye. HUE wasn't smiling, but the sentiment was still there. Tribore just blinked and Mooncake gave a smile of his own. He looked down at Nightfall, who smiled too.
"As a squad," Gary declared at everyone. "A...team squad," He glanced to the doorway. "Except for him."
"I don't want to be on your stupid team squad," He left but then came back. "Though Nova, you can join my team anytime."
"Ugh!" Nova gave a look of disgust. "Goodbye, you little booger."
Ash and Fox walked in, and the girl was hiding something behind her back. "And I'm still making my mind up about them!" Gary added in.
"Guys, I know you're new here and you're just getting to know us, so I made you something!" She revealed a doll with very familiar looking hair. "Out of Little Cato's hair." Nova recoiled back a bit with wide eyes. "You better love it." One of the eyes came off.
"Oh my...it's terrifying..."
"But thanks...I guess?" Nova slowly pushed it away with a finger. She crossed her arms with a slightly annoyed look, and it wasn't because of Ash.
"So what happened in your happy place?" Nightfall questioned Gary, who chuckled.
"Oh man! Well, you know, I had a cookie wife and some cookie kids, and then they got kidnapped by a Spanish dance giant. And there were some Frost bears there too..."
Nova was walking back down the hallway to reach her room, grumbling to herself.
"Yeah sure, I killed his family. BULLSHIT! The Titans were the ones who pulled the Earth into the breach, and it's all that Lord Dipshit's fault that it even happened. He's just a weak and pathetic man who wants to put the responsibility on the wrong people," She then took a breath out of frustration. Little Cato was trying to catch up to her and then he came to a stop as he saw her stance.
"Bolo may have given me my powers, but that doesn't make me related to him. And sometimes...it's really hard to deal with all of the baggage that comes with this information...I wish I never found that part out about me..." She closed her eyes.
"Hey."
She glanced over her shoulder to see the cat boy approaching her. "Hi," The girl replied quietly.
"...Um-"
"You don't need to tell me that it'll be okay or that it gets better," She interrupted him, knowing that he heard her. "This is just another thing that I have to deal with, right?" She smiled weakly at her friend. "And that things like this only make me stronger, when in reality, it sucks."
"Well...yes and no," He spoke up to her. "I was just gonna say that I don't care what happened. Because...well, I know the real you. Or at least, I've seen the real you."
She blinked and then smiled softly. "Thanks..."
"No problem...I was looking for you because I wanted to apologize for...earlier. I can't believe you saw my junk," Little Cato dragged a hand down his face.
"I've arguably seen many of people's junk from just today alone," She pointed out. "Hadn't felt that sick since I saw a naked handcuffed Gary."
"Wait, what?"
"Nothing!" The girl smiled awkwardly, as she forgot that she never told him that. And for good reason. "But yeah, I saw your dick. So what? I'm honestly over it," She shrugged at him. "I've seen a lot of crazy shit, so no need to apologize."
"Still…not exactly how I wanted to get the ship back…"
"Hmm…" Nova narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She leaned forward and he blushed. The girl slid closer to his ear. "We both know that you just didn't want me to see it until we actually fuck. You're so easy to read, Cato."
"W-What?! N-no," He stammered meekly and she leaned back.
"If that's not true, you wouldn't be hard right now. Trust me, I can see it bulging," She cupped his chin, forcing him to look at her. "I know it's very tempting to you. But you just gotta wait a little longer."
She kissed his nose and then left, leaving him speechless.
Angel: I've been getting several questions about Nova, her family, and how certain events with her happened. For example, how exactly she met Mooncake. These questions will be answered in this season, but not until a little bit later. So just bare with me on those, please. I haven't ignored anything, it's just not the right time to find out yet XD
Also, regarding the question of Disney cartoons that I grew up with? I watched Disney Channel more often as a kid, so I watched Disney Junior more often. Back when I was growing up, Disney Junior was Playhouse Disney, and I think by the time Disney Junior was a thing, I had grown out of preschool shows for the most part. And I also had a Bratz DVD player where my sister and I would rent stuff from Scholastic whenever we went to the library, so we watched those too, but I barely remember those anymore. And as far as I can tell, not many of them are on Youtube. But if I had to choose favorites, they'd be Madeline, maybe Charlie and Lola, My Friends Tigger and Pooh from kids stuff. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins were overplayed for my liking, so those two were a no-go for me. For Disney XD, it'd be Randy Cunningham, I definitely watched that a lot. And I've done a story on it if you wanna go check that out on my profile! I watched several of their live-action stuff, my favorite from that genre would probably be Pair of Kings. And if I went on and on, the list would get long, so I'm gonna stop there XD But yeah, it was a memorable childhood...