Angel: Okay, so I left a note last time and looking back, some of it was unfair. I apologize for stating that I would discontinue the story. It's not fair for me to discontinue something for people who aren't requesting anything. The night I wrote that note, I didn't have a good work shift, and I took out my frustrations as a result, and so I'm sorry to the fans just reading, you don't deserve that. If I do get demands for story changes, I'll just put the story on hiatus (not indefinite hiatus). It's just that I've been getting so many guest reviews solely about changes, and it ticks me off, as well as hurt my feelings because people are only talking about changes in the guest reviews and nothing else. Not even to complain about a story element, just to change stuff.
Everything else I said still applies, though. I don't have to make changes if I don't want to, I don't wanna have to delete like 6 reviews in one day about changes, I don't want anymore spamming no matter what reason because it's not my problem, and if people care enough about the story and want to change something, just leave entirely. If you wanna complain about the show's writing and not my own story, take it elsewhere. Just don't even bother saying anything if it's not related to my own story, I'm not a forum. These story changes aren't happening, I'm not even considering any of them. Go complain to writers of the show, not me.
Thanks for the fans who don't request stuff from me and who agree with me, and thanks to those who have complained in the past, but now have kept it to yourself. Everyone out who wants story changes is out? Good.
Previously on Final Space, yo!
"You can't tell me anything I don't already know," Little Cato denied to the Lord Commander while tied up by him.
"Are you sure you know everything?" The Lord Commander questioned while the King and Queen of Ventrexia were attempting to escape.
"There's Avocato now," The King stated hopefully, but the ship was met with a missile and was exploded.
"You killed his parents!" Gary accused Avocato, who looked up at his best friend.
"That's right. I'm not Little Cato's real father."
The Galaxy 2 was flying through space to search for the hyper-transdimensional bridge. Unfortunately, there hadn't been any progress or success. Gary looked down at his arm that was now showing the poison as it wasn't able to be hidden anymore.
"This is the last potential location I've calculated," HUE informed the team, who did not look optimistic. "Completing scan for the hyper- transdimensional bridge. Ash stared at Little Cato and Nova while her brother was standing behind her. Nova sighed slowly while the two looked at Little Cato's arm. His entire body was covered in the poison and unfortunately, there hadn't been any update for her being the cure either. Some of her blood was taken to help make a cure, but it was still pending.
"HUE, what are our chances of surviving this?"
Avocato and Sheryl glanced at him, both of them with weary looks as they were covered in the poison too.
"The truth, no matter how bad."
"Unknown, Gary," HUE answered them.
"When did unknown become your new favorite word?" Gary asked in disbelief. "It used to be facticulating."
"Facticulating...hmm...unknown."
The man opened his mouth in disbelief. "You had that one loaded for quite a while, didn't you?"
"HUE, have you found the hyper-transdimensional bridge?" Quinn wondered, looking up with crossed arms.
"Quinn, I am afraid that's easier said than done."
"What about the cure for our poison?" Avocato stared up ahead. "Did you test Nova's blood?"
"I have just received the results...I am afraid that while Nova is immune, there is no way to pass the cure onto all of you." Nova opened her mouth in shock, a dismayed look on all of their faces. "I'm sorry."
"What? Why not?!" Gary demanded him.
"When Bolo passed, he essentially passed down his genes, making her half-Titan. Her blood is now Titan blood, which will not work for manufacturing a cure."
"Oh, we can't catch a break," She pinched her nose, feeling awful.
"We'll find another way," Little Cato kissed her forehead in assurance.
The door opened and Biskit stepped in. "HUE is right. Unfortunately, we can't ask Kevin Van Newton because his flesh was torn to pieces by undead Garys!" He looked up at Gary accusingly. The man turned to everyone else, who were staring at him.
"Why are you looking at me? I didn't tear his flesh."
"But...those undead Garys were you. So in some way...you did tear his flesh," Fox looked down sadly.
"But I kinda liked the guy!" Gary protested back. It wasn't like he could do anything about the zombies, and those Garys were all from different timelines, not his.
"But if you were undead, you would've done it too, right?" KVN accused him.
"...I guess," Gary raised a brow. "I guess. I mean, if other undead Garys were doing it..."
"You make me sick!" KVN narrowed his eye tomorrow.
"I'm afraid we must allow for the possibility that finding the bridge may take longer than all of you have to-"
"Found it!" Biskit announced, getting all of their attention. They turned around as the bridge appeared on the hologram.
"Oh!" KVN chuckled at this. "I am so glad I'm not HUE right now."
"The bridge..." Ash murmured in shock.
"That's a win!" Gary smiled happily. "Biskit, you magnificent...what the hell are you again?"
"A tiger tiger! Rawr!" His eyes shined as he wagged his tail with a wink.
"The best tiger tiger we know!" Fox smiled at him.
"Seriously, dude, how did you find a speck floating in the middle of nowhere?" Little Cato asked him in confusion.
"You're asking me to boil down an entire weekend seminar I give in one dang sentence?" Biskit questioned in defense, narrowing his eyes. Little Cato just glanced at Gary and Nova, the latter shrugging at him cluelessly. He jumped down from his seat. "But I like you, so I'll do it! There are two letters that separate impossible from possible."
"Please don't say I am," HUE stated and Biskit took a deep breath.
"And those two letters spell I am!" His eyes shined as he pointed up to the ceiling.
"Of course," Nova facepalmed at him.
"It feels good to finally know where we're going," Gary looked back to the picture of the bridge, smirking. "Lightfold!"
The ship exited the lightfold and appeared in a field of asteroids, with a light glimmering up ahead. Up ahead, right there in front of them, was the portal waiting for them. "I never thought we'd see the bridge again," Ash confessed to the group.
"Looks like it took a nasty hit from the Lord Commander," Avocato commented at its state; some of it looked scorched up due to the explosion from when the Lord Commander merged himself with a Titan. "What kind of shape is it in?"
"It's offline. There is no power."
"Think again, HUE!" Biskit argued back. "The only way you lose power is by thinking you don't have any."
"Dude, that's some good stuff," Little Cato smiled at him. "How much is your seminar?"
"If you have to ask, you can't afford it!" He told him and Nova crossed her arms.
"Okay, only one person on the Team Squad is allowed to have attitude, and that's me!" She jerked a thumb to herself.
"Think again, sister!" He pointed up at her. "Now we're gonna charge that bridge up and get the heck out of here."
"I have a plan," HUE spoke up.
"I'm not finished yet! In that bridge are a series of count 'em, one, two, three energy collectors. We charge those bad boys up and get the thing online!" A diagram of this plan showed up on the screen between all of them.
"How do we do that?" Quinn asked curiously.
"With the biggest jumper cables in the universe, baby!" Mooncake entered the room with a smile, floating next to Nova. "These guys!"
"Chookity pok!" He smiled at the Ventrexian, snuggling Nova.
"I don't know the extent of my power since I'm now half-Titan, half Kirian, but I'll give it a shot," Nova pumped a fist with a small smirk.
"Let's get to work," Quinn stated to the team.
The door opened to the outside, all of them standing together. "Okay, let's divide and conquer! This spice queen is with me," He nudged Quinn with a smile.
"Ahh," She rolled her eyes, but gave him a knowing look. "You're ridiculous."
"Sheryl and Biskit?" He turned around to the dup.
"I'm not doing that," The Tiger Tiger placed his goggles over his face. "I gotta finish my HUE project, so I'm going this way." He turned around and left them there.
"Fine, okay, finish your stupid HUE project," Gary called after him in annoyance.
"And don't bug me!" Biskit said back, disappearing.
"Seems like yesterday you would do that to me," Little Cato smirked up at Nova.
"Not so sure I still wouldn't," She smirked back in response.
"Ah," Gary pinched his nose. "Okay. KVN, you're with my mom."
"Hooray!" KVN cheered while Sheryl could care less. "That's the person you came out of!" He flew over to Gary, who pushed him away.
"And Avocato, Fox, and Ash."
"Sounds good," Ash told him.
"Then let's get to it," Avocato put on his helmet, leaving with the two.
"As long as you watch yourself, Ventrexian!" Fox pointed at him.
"You know, just because you came out of a coma doesn't mean I won't hesitate to shoot you!"
Nova rolled her eyes at them. She hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with this again like she did on the Crimson Light...
"What about me and Starlight?"
"My team," Gary jerked a thumb to himself. "I need you to hype me up on the regular, and for Nov...well, if I put her with KVN, she won't last long."
"No I wouldn't," The girl agreed with him. However, another reason was that so Little Cato could comfort the girl about the recent death of her father should she get distracted by being reminded of him.
"Oh, I can do that!" Little Cato smirked up at his adoptive father.
"Yeah, you can! You're already doing it!" Gary smiled widely at him.
"I'm doing it right now! Watch me!" The younger Ventrexian put on his helmet and Nova laughed at him.
"I know you are! And I'm lovin' it!" Gary put on his helmet. "Alright, let's go!" All of them took off and separated into three towards the energy collectors. As they were flying, Gary was staring at Quinn, which she noticed.
"What?" She looked up at him.
"Nothing. You just...look pretty."
She scoffed a little with a smile. "You can't even see my face," She smiled widely up at him.
"I mean, I can...I can see through that very thin visor."
Quinn chuckled in response. "You can, huh?"
"Yeah, I can, and I gotta say, I like what I see."
Little Cato popped up between them. "What's happening here? Huh?"
"Nothing's happening. Shoo."
"Something is definitely happening. I smell it," Little Cato pointed out and Nova flew down to him.
"They're basically flirting, Gary's a bit annoyed you're ruining the moment."
"Nov!" Gary glared a bit at her. "You weren't supposed to tell him that!"
"What? He's dating me, there's nothing he doesn't already know," She scoffed, waving a hand.
"True," He acknowledged, rubbing his chin.
"I've got my Starlight in the stars tonight," Little Cato raised a teasing brow and she groaned a bit, trying not to blush.
"Boooo," She gave a thumbs down. "That was kinda bad, do better instead of a pun."
"What, that was totally good," He protested to her playfully.
"You two are just so cute, you defy logic," Quinn commented to them.
"Quinn!" Nova floated backwards in front of her. "We're not cute, we're just like you guys."
"You did call me adorable once," Little Cato pointed out.
"That's right, she did!" Gary gasped a little. "Oh, that's sweet, you guys!"
"I am this close to gauging your eyes out," Nova stated in annoyance and Gary floated a few feet away from her.
"Alright, not so sweet anymore." The four finally arrived at one of the energy collectors and they came to a stop. "Alright, we made it, HUE. What do we do?"
"Remove the rear access panel and release the energy collectors," The AI informed as Gary did as he was told. The energy collectors were released into space. Ash, Avocato, and Fox landed at their spot.
"Hey HUE, can you show us the schematic to these things?" The Ventrexian wondered to his communicator.
"There...aren't any," HUE answered in confusion as Sheryl landed.
"What the hell? Then why are we wasting time here?" She asked in disbelief.
"Hold on," Gary realized something, removing a panel in front of him. "I've seen this before..."
Away from the Galaxy 1, attached to a tether, he was repairing a satellite, taping it up.
"Yeah!" He beamed happily in recognition. "Oh my, I know what this is!" He looked up at the energy collector in front of him. "Okay, listen up! This is what we're gonna do. It's all about the panels on these things." Nova glanced to Little Cato in confusion and he just shrugged. "Each panel is enclosed with an 8-sided, hellish, dog demon hexagonalical screw nut."
Fox blasted it open and Avocato facepalmed. "And it was open the entire time..." He flipped open the panel, and thankfully, the thing wasn't damaged...
"Those are tighter than a pickle jar's butt cheeks, okay? Pop those off." Both Avocato and Sheryl did so. "Hit the blueish, blackish, brownish switch—you'll know which one—and Mooncake and Nov will do the rest."
"That's all I need to know!" Nova smiled a bit.
"Whoa! How did you do that?" Little Cato asked Gary in awe as everything powered up.
"I've worked on these, for five years on the Galaxy One. I thought they were just dumb satellites."
"Fascinating," HUE did a quick scan of them. "These are identical to the ones you worked on during your prison term aboard the Galaxy One."
"But that makes no sense," Gary shook his head. "I wasn't working on a hyper-transdimensional bridge."
"Correct...unless...you were."
"Was I?" The blond asked in confusion.
"Were you?"
"You're the AI! How the freak should I know?!" Gary defended to HUE.
"You were."
"I was?"
"It appears that without your knowledge or consent, they had you doing maintenance on an early prototype of the tech," HUE explained to him as he glanced around in thought.
"What a twist!"
"What is it, Gary?" Quinn wondered to her boyfriend.
"Life, Quinn! If I hadn't screwed up trying to impress you in that bar, I never would've known how to save my own life. It's like a perfectly non-logical, logical burrito of life, and I just took a bite out of it. And I saw the core."
"...We're good, Mooncake and Nova! Do it up!" She glanced at the girl nearby. She floated over to the other side while Mooncake flew out of the ship.
"Chookity pok!" Nova powered up once she reached the opposite side. Both of them fired at the same time, connecting their powers to the energy collectors. They then transferred power over to the portal, both of them stopping. Mooncake looked exhausted, but the portal came to life as they gave sounds of awe.
"The hyper-transdimensional bridge is charging."
Ash flew back over with Avocato and Fox from their spot. "The final piece is in place. When it finishes...we go home," Gary gave a small smile of relief. Ash joined them, turning over to Quinn.
"Hey Quinn," She spoke up. "I know I gave you a hard time for...abandoning the fight against the Titans...but...you did good."
"Thanks," Quinn gave a grateful smile. "I appreciate that," She floated over to Gary. "And you did good, too. Nice work, Goodspeed."
"Oh, thanks. So, uh..." He turned to her fully. "What do you wanna...do next, Quinn?" He asked as he got closer to her face.
As soon as they entered the ship, they were making out. "Oh my god! If I knew you would've liked hyper-transdimensional bridge work this much," He removed her vest while she pecked his lips. "I would've displayed my talents much sooner."
He cupped her cheek and she took his wrist, staring at his poison. "Gary...I don't know if...we'll ever get a chance to do this again."
She looked up at him and he stared at her in realization that...if Nova couldn't cure them, he would die in Final Space. And then he wouldn't get to have this moment with Quinn again...She grabbed his jacket, passionately kissing him. He reciprocated and she pinned him to the wall, struggling to unzip his jacket.
"Ahh! Okay, okay! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!"
"The zipper!" She gritted her teeth in annoyance and broke it off in frustration. She just smirked and threw it away, ripping open his jacket.
"Yessss!" He cheered at the top of his lungs, pumping his fists. They started making out again.
"Okay, okay, okay," She murmured as they made it to their bedroom. They stumbled around the room and she pushed him onto the bed. She then lifted up her shirt, showing her bra.
"Hey!"
Quinn gasped as they turned to see Little Cato just sitting there on the couch, staring at the both of them. "You rushed back to the ship so fast, I wasn't sure where you went," He told them while she put her shirt back down, a little annoyed. "You guys cool in here?"
"We're...here," Gary stated nervously and awkwardly, wondering how long it would've taken for Little Cato to speak up.
"Cool, okay," He walked over to them, holding out his arms. "Just the three of us, hanging out," He sighed as he jumped back, sitting between them. "So, uh, the bridge is charging. Gotta love that."
"Mmm, don't sit," Gary pushed him away. "Don't you have a girlfriend?"
"Starlight? She disappeared so fast, I don't even know what she's doing. She...might be still mourning Bolo," He looked away knowingly, earning sympathetic looks from the two...but they still wanted to be alone. "Uhh...you guys want me to hype you up?"
"No, we are good. Plenty of hype here! I'm hyped. You're hyper?" He smiled at Quinn, who scooted closer to him.
"Super good on that."
"S-She's hyped, we're all hyped. We're good! Run and go play with grandma," Gary waved him off, hoping he'd get the hint.
"Uhh, you want me to go hype Sheryl?" He walked away in thought.
"Sure do!"
They kissed, but he turned back around, interrupting them again. "Go on. Yup."
"Go!" Gary ran over and put his hands on his shoulders. "Mm, yeah, I believe in you. I, gah—man, I believe in you." Nova was walking by after walking out of her room that she shared with Little Cato and heard them talking.
"A-And close the door behind you," Quinn called out. Little Cato glanced over his shoulder and gave them a thumbs up. Gary returned it, before giving him another one as he returned to wave. As soon as the door was closed, he took off his jacket and put it on the floor.
Little Cato turned to the girl. "Hey, Starlight," He took a hold of her hand.
"We've got the bridge charging, you can stop hyping them up," Nova told him with an amused smile as she picked up what was happening in there.
"So…can I hype you up, then? After all, you watched Bolo die…"
"Me?" She chuckled weakly at him. "I'm not sure if your hype can help entirely…"
"Right…" He rubbed his neck. "But…Starlight, I'm here for you, I-if you need it."
"I know," Nova kissed his cheek gratefully. "Thank you..."
Sheryl let out a small smile as she walked into the mess hall. "How's the bridge doing, HUE?"
"Excellent, Sheryl," He answered as she held a cup of coffee. "It is currently 63 percent charged and rising." She took a sip and smiled.
"Never thought I'd live to see this day..." She took a seat and looked outside, where she could see the portal charging. "Amazing." She had another sip.
"Hey, Grandma S!" Little Cato greeted her, earning a small snicker from Nova.
"Never thought I'd hear that, to be honest."
She gave an annoyed sigh. "Need any hype?"
"Nope," The woman called out. "And don't call me that," She turned to the two in the doorway, Little Cato having a smirk on his face. "I'm not your grand-anything."
"Well, but Gary's my adopted dad," He corrected her, walking down the steps. "Which makes you my adopted...Grandmaster Speed?" He snapped his fingers with a wink. "Eh?"
"...Okay. I don't mind that one," She smirked a little.
"Never change, Sheryl," Nova rolled her eyes with an amused look.
"And that would make Starlight your grandmaster granddaughter-in-law!"
"Ahh," The girl blushed, scratching her cheek as she debated whether or not she should correct him on that one since...they were too young to really be thinking about that.
"Ha!" Sheryl chuckled at the girl's face. "How about we wait on that one, eh?"
"Man," Little Cato pressed his hands to the window, looking outside. "That is so cool! I can't wait to get out of here!"
"Me too, and hopefully find that cure," Nova glanced at his arms.
"I still don't understand the whole 'two dads' thing," Sheryl confessed to the younger Ventrexian, who chuckled in response.
"Yeah. It's pretty tight."
"What happened...to your mother?" Sheryl wondered curiously.
"Uh...I don't know," He confessed to her after a few seconds. "My dad never really talks about her. I think it's a pain spot."
"A pain spot?" She raised a brow.
"Yeah, you know. A little spot. Spot of pain," Little Cato fully turned to her. "Where the pain's located."
"Okay. So...you don't know anything about mother?"
"No," He rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I...Is that weird?"
"More curious," She stated as the two walked over to her. "I mean, how old are you again?" Sheryl turned to the Ventrexian curiously.
"14," He smiled proudly, hands on his hips. "Technically, 74," He rubbed his arm and Nova winced a bit at the reminder. "But...for the sake of birthday presents, I'm 14."
"Care to explain?"
"Um..." He glanced at his girlfriend, who bit her lip. She REALLY didn't like remembering that time, not because he spent 60 years of their lives taking care of her, but because it was really lonely. And she was not willing to talk about it with anyone except Little Cato, who in turn barely talked about it at all. "Pain spot. You guys think I should ask my dad about my mom?"
"I mean, I technically had no mom because Bolo's first love was not really around by the time I was given some of his powers as an infant. And he seemed to prefer to not rectify that, so I can't really relate," Nova glanced away a bit awkwardly. "Not that it matters to me that my real parents are still alive."
"Well...why not? I know I would," Sheryl gave him a small encouraging smile. He looked back up towards the outside and Nova placed a hand on his shoulder.
"If there's a chance that this poison doesn't go away...it might be better to ask now than later," She informed him and they continued to stare towards outside together. Nova tapped him and gestured for him to follow her outside. He did so and she faced him nervously.
"Little Cato?" Nova rubbed her arm nervously. "I thought of something that can hype me up."
"Really?" He asked eagerly. "Anything!"
"Heh..." Nova gave a small chuckle, wondering how far he'll take that. "You remember our time together in…the time shard?" She pinched her nose wearily. She tended to not talk about it with him often, and he seemed to be on the same level for good reason.
"Yeeeeah…if there was one good thing that came out of that, it was spending all that time with you, but if you wanna relive that—"
"Hell no!" She blinked in disbelief. "I would never ask you to do that. I just, um…well, you're still affected by the…by the poison, and…since this might be the only opportunity of time we have, I…" She bit her lip. "Wanted to replicate our special time together."
"…Oh!" Little Cato blinked at her in shock. "W-Wait, really?"
"Only if you're cool with that! I don't know if it's weird since you're 14…" She rubbed her arm with a small smile.
"It's not weird. Technically, we're 74, right?" He gave a knowing look.
"Right," She smirked at his face.
"So…are we doing this or—" Nova grabbed his hand and ran off with him towards their bedroom.
Ash watched the flame in her hand and then closed it while waiting for the bridge to charge. She glanced at her brother taking in the ship and smiled at him. She was just happy that he was happy, even though sometimes in certain situations, he was being...just Fox.
Avocato walked past her and she glanced at him. "Stop touching my body, Biskit," The AI informed Biskit, who was doing something to HUE's robot body.
"No! Stop it, HUE!" He hugged it protectively. "It's mine. Rawrr!" He pawed at the air.
"Keep charging, baby," Avocato encouraged as he looked towards outside. "C'mon, we got this."
Little Cato stepped into the room, fixing himself up as his fur was a mess, and Nova's hair wasn't much better, though she didn't seem to care. She fixed up her hairstyle so that she wouldn't get any comments that would piss her off.
"Daddy-o! Pops!" He greeted the Ventrexian as they stepped into the room. "Dad!" He looked especially giddy over what had just happened between him and his girlfriend.
"Hey, what's up, buddy?" Avocato greeted back with a smile.
"...What was Mom like?"
His eyes widened down at his adopted son, glancing away awkwardly. "Your mother?" In reality, his former wife was...not around anymore, just like his previous son. And because of that, he never really felt the need to make one up and the question was never asked anyway for it to be a problem.
"I know you don't like talking about her, but...I don't...I don't know anything about her," Little Cato looked up nervously. "I mean, even just her name would be cool."
Nova's eyes closed upon hearing that. There was a time where she and him talked about their parents, and he told her that he knew literally nothing about his mother. Not even how she disappeared or even if she was dead.
"Uh, yeah. Sure," Avocato chuckled nervously, thinking of what to say to him. "Uh, huh...hmm. Her name was Apricot."
Little Cato beamed upon hearing that and Nova rubbed her chin. Something was a little...odd about that answer. Being with Little Cato, she knew fully well that all names from their species were a fruit pun. So wouldn't the name be Apricat instead of Apricot? She might be reading into it a little bit, but if the two were of the same species, it seemed like a weird thing to overlook.
"Apricot," He looked at Nova with a smile and she smiled too. He looked so happy hearing that name that she was just going to let her thoughts go.
"Aww. What a pretty name," Ash commented nearby.
"It's so beautiful!" Fox's eyes shined a little, trying not to cry.
"Hm," Avocato nodded at him, turning to his son. "And you look exactly like her."
He chuckled awkwardly in response. "Well, I figured. I figured that, 'cause I don't look anything like you."
Aavocato took a deep breath, a guilty look in his eyes. Nova raised a confused brow. "Yeah."
"H-How did she, uh...you know?"
"Childbirth," He lied through his teeth, looking away. Upon hearing that answer and realizing that Avocato had to raise him on his own, through war, he gave him a big hug. Avocato looked down at him and he glanced up at his dad.
"I know it hasn't been easy, doing this all by yourself. I just wanna say thanks for being my dad."
Nova smiled weakly at the two while Avocato smiled gratefully. Gary stepped into the room with messy hair. "Alright!"
Biskit whipped around to him. "Okay, I don't like this," He demanded, pointing up to Gary's head. "What's going on with your hair?"
"What?" Gary lightly touched it. "What do you—what?"
"Your hair's all sticking up and crazy in places, and you smell like perfume. Were you attacked? Were you attacked?" He got a crazy look in his eyes and Quinn came in, her hair a mess too. "Your hair's even crazier! What's going on over here?" He kneeled, taking hold of her hands. "Did someone hurt you, magnificent goddess? Cause I'll make 'em pay!"
"You know what it was?" Gary smirked down at him and he released Quinn.
"Yeah?"
"Y-You wanna know?"
"Don't say a nest of bees," Biskit narrowed his eyes and Gary looked away in thought. It was better than to just tell him the bee thing instead of the truth. Because he got the hint that Biskit either wouldn't understand or his reaction would be overblown.
"...It was a nest of bees."
"Seriously?! I hate bees!" Biskit exclaimed angrily. "Oh! Maybe I could install some bees in my HUE project," He walked away to the robot body. "Ohh, that would be sick!" He ripped off the head.
"It would—Yeah, that would be sick."
Biskit then walked out the door. "Hey, I'm gonna go get those bees. And no one touch my HUE project!" He pointed at them with his flamethrower. "It's almost done, okay? Oh my god, I gotta go get those bees!" The others just stared after him. "Beeeeeessss!"
Fox sniffed Little Cato and gasped. "Did the bees get you too?! Because you smell like perfume too."
"Ahh...yeah," He laughed nervously, hoping his father wouldn't get the hint. "Yeah, they did. Those...pesky bees..."
"I'll get 'em for ya!" Biskit called out from outside.
"Come on, HUE, tell us some good news, baby," Avocato turned around to the screen, where there was a status hologram.
"The hyper-transdimensional bridge is 97 percent charged."
Sheryl stood up with a small smile. "Loving that."
"98 percent..." Quinn and Gary fixed their hair with smiles of relief. "99 percent...100."
They all cheered, either jumping up or hugging each other. Fox gave Ash a bear hug, causing her to laugh and Little Cato hugged Nova, lifting her off her feet as he spun around. They both chuckled happily before looking back to the screen...and that was where things started to go wrong.
"101 percent? Is that right, HUE?" Gary blinked in confusion. All of them opened their mouths in disbelief. "103 percent?"
"108 percent."
"What's going on?!" Quinn asked while outside, the portal was sparking with too much energy.
"Something's wrong. The bridge is overcharging," He told them all and Nova gasped. Her power and Mooncake's power must've been too much for the thing...
"Chookity pok..."
"What do we do?" Quinn wondered and then Biskit came in.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!" He ran over to them. "The dang thing's gonna blow if we can't reverse the intake valve!" He started working at the control panel.
"Shut it down!" Little Cato shouted in a panic.
"I'm trying to do that!" Biskit shouted back.
"120 percent," Ash stated while they could only watch. Giving it another power flux from Mooncake and Nova would only make it worse.
"Kevin? Kevin? Where are you when we need you?" Biskit wondered in dismay and then the thing exploded a bit, shutting down right then and there. The entire thing went down to zero and Gary closed his eyes, looking at the ground.
"The thermogenic power core has been blown. The hyper-transdimensional bridge is offline." They closed their eyes sadly, Mooncake feeling bad as he stared.
Nova gave a dismayed look, tears forming in her eyes. Little Cato stared at her in confusion. "Starlight, what's wrong?"
She silently backed away and ran out of the room. "Wait!" The Ventrexian ran after her. The others started to leave as well.
"No, no, no, no, no. Don't give up," Quinn pleaded, but it did nothing to assure them. "We're going to fix this." Ash stopped and stared, simply shaking her head no. She left and then Fox stopped, glancing down at her.
"I really wanted to go home..." He sagged his shoulders and she frowned sadly, watching them walk out the door.
"Ash!"
Biskit glanced over his shoulder. "Well, there's some good news. I checked the ship, and the bees are gone." He left and Quinn glared a bit at him for not being helpful.
Avocato turned to his best friend. "Hey, man, uh...can I talk to you?"
"Yeah," He glanced outside one more time and followed after Avocato.
Little Cato looked around the hall, where he found Nova sitting in front of the window, hugging her knees. Her head was facing away from him. "Starlight," He spoke up to get her attention, but she didn't respond or move. He walked over to her and bent down, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You know, nobody blames you for what happened."
"It's not just that," She sniffled, turning to him with tears still in her eyes. "I thought that we'd get out of here! And that maybe...maybe you'd get to live with me..." She glanced down at his arm and he looked down at it. "But now we're stuck here...and the worst part is...my dad is still dead." His eyes saddened at her. "And I never once got to tell him that I loved him...he died not knowing that I'm grateful he was even there for me! He must hate me now wherever he is."
She squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaming down her face. Little Cato pulled her closer and hugged her, his chin resting on her head. She started to cry as she hugged him and his ears flattened.
"Bolo did love you, Starlight. He knew that, he just...wasn't as emotional about it. Heh, I guess you two are alike after all." She gave a sad smile as her tears slowly stopped. "If his mind was any indication, you were always in his heart and mind. And that says enough to him even if you never expressed to him that you loved him."
They continued to sit there in silence, and they didn't want to speak anyway as he continued hugging her.
Gary walked up to Avocato, who was pacing. "What's up?" He glanced over to the man and said nothing. "What is it?"
"Look, you heard HUE..." Avocato closed his eyes in dismay. After everything they've been through, it was hard for everyone to hear that they wouldn't be going home. "It's over. We're not getting out of here. We're going to die here," He faced the window.
"We can't give up," Gary tried to cheer him up, and failed.
"Little Cato, he uh...he asked me about his mother."
"He did? ...What did you say?" He asked seriously, since he promised not to tell Little Cato, as he had to hear the truth from his own father.
"I lied, like I've always done," Avocato looked at his arm. "I don't know if we can get this bridge working, and—and we've got this sickness that Nova can't cure. And—and time is running out and..." He took a deep breath to calm himself down, walking off.
"Yo, where you going?" Gary called out, earning a sigh.
"To let him know the monster I am," He glanced over his shoulder.
"Wait, just wait," The blond stopped as Ash was walking by. "Let's just—let's just find the right time."
"I killed his parents!" Avocato snapped at him. "There will never be a right time to tell him."
Ash blinked upon hearing this, and narrowed 'him' down to one person, which was Little Cato since KVN was made by...Kevin, and Mooncake was made out of Final Space, and HUE was an AI. After putting the pieces together, she growled angrily, her hair lifting up as her powers activated.
Avocato was about to leave, only to be stopped by Ash. "Did you?!" She demanded him.
"Ash?" Gary asked in surprise that she overheard them. "Listen, listen, listen. Stop," He tried to calm her down. "Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. You don't know what this is."
"Did you kill Little Cato's parents?" Ash's voice sounded more distorted now as she sounded pissed off. She lifted the Ventrexian up with her powers, ignoring Gary. "I'll ask again. Did you kill his parents?" She clenched a fist and Avocato glanced down at her. He closed his eyes, not wanting to answer, but he knew that if he didn't, she'd kill him. "Did you?"
"Yes," He finally answered. "I did it."
She started choking him in anger, growling and throwing him into the wall. "I should've known when you almost killed Fox," Ash stopped Gary from running over and lifted him up, bringing him closer. "You're all just evil!" She started choking him as well and he gasped for air.
"Ash...stop...this!" He managed to say, but she was too angry...too lost...
"Invictus...was right..." She squeezed her eyes shut, shedding some tears. "All this time..." She gritted her teeth, staring at Avocato getting up. Once he did, she brought him over to her. "I'm gonna take Little Cato away," She declared to them. "Far, far away from you. And this time, Nova isn't going to stop me from anything!"
"No!" Avocato growled out.
"And you," She turned to Gary, who groaned in pain.
"Stop this! Ash, please!" He pleaded with her.
"If you take him, I promise you, I will kill you!" Avocato sneered, no longer staring at a friend.
"How? When you're already dead!" She grinned and then threw the both of them out the window and into space, with no helmets whatsoever.
An alarm sounded and Quinn ran over to the map in the bridge, where Little Cato and Nova were. "Hull breach. Location...commissary."
"Where's Gary?" Quinn raised a brow.
"Neither Gary nor Avocato are onboard this ship. Scanning...they are in space," Two dots appeared on screen and all of them were shocked.
"What? We need to help them!" Little Cato declared.
"But wait, how does that even happen?" Nova turned to Little Cato in confusion. Both men would never accidentally do it...well, maybe just Avocato, but even then, it seemed too bizarre for it to be an accident. Someone had to deliberately do this...
"I'll go!" He ran off and Quinn looked back up at the map.
"Something's not right," Nova shook her head as Quinn turned to the keyboard, sensing the same thing. The hull was breached, and yet the two just happened to be in space.
The two floated backwards and Gary pressed a button, putting on his helmet. "Avocato!" He reached out his hand and the Ventrexian took it. They eventually landed on the portal.
"Gary, we can't let Ash take Little Cato!" Avocato called out in a panic.
"I know! Let's go!"
They activated their rocket boots, flying back to the ship. "Gary, what is going on?"
"It's Ash!" Gary informed her and Nova.
"She's gone psycho!" Avocato added in.
"Wait, what?!" Nova asked in disbelief.
"Ashy?" Fox wondered in concern.
"Quinn, she's gonna take Little Cato!" Gary added in, both of them determined to get back to the ship.
Sheryl threw a gun at Quinn, who caught it. "What is this?"
"No one...is taking my grandson," The woman declared to her.
"And nobody is taking Cato without me raising hell!" Nova activated her powers, Fox reluctantly loading his cannon. The four left the bridge to go find her.
Little Cato ran down the hallway, when he saw Ash in his path. "Ash! My dads are in trouble!" He called out to her, hoping that she'll help. Unfortunately, he didn't notice that she was already acting off.
"Don't worry about them," She dismissed his concern. "The only thing that matters is that I'm gonna keep you safe," She smiled weakly at him.
"Okay..." He felt a bit weirded out, especially with this declaration all of a sudden.
"All that's left is you and me," She floated over to him, her eyes honestly creeping him out.
"Ash, you're starting to scare me," He looked away. "And what about Starlight, or your brother?"
"We'll take them too. I might not want Nova, but I know that she's important to you, even though she was a killer for hire. Besides them, we're surrounded by liars and killers," Her eyes turned black in rage. "We've gotta get out of here. It's time to make our move."
"Liars and—Ash, what has gotten into you? What are you even saying? That part of Nova's life is over, and you know that," He insisted to her.
"We're on the wrong side," She told him plain and simple. "These people are the bad guys except for Fox!"
"Ash, I'm—I'm saying this because I care about you, but I-I think you're losing it, okay? Now I need to help my-"
"I'm not losing it!" She snapped at him, gritting her teeth.
"Okay," He recoiled back, a little frightened. "It's all good."
"Do you know why you don't look like Avocato?" She questioned him.
"I-It's because I look like my mom," He told her bravely.
"It's because he's not your father!" She corrected him.
"What?"
"He lied to you. Don't you see? Your parents were the King and Queen of Ventrexia," She leaned in a bit. "He killed your mother and your father."
He gave a look of disbelief and shock before snapping out of it. "That's a lie. You're lying!"
"He wanted to tell you himself, but that Ventrexian filth doesn't deserve to be on the same planet as you!" Her powers fluxed as she got pissed off again just thinking about him.
The other four ran into the hall, pointing their weapons at her. "Ash! What are you doing?" Quinn narrowed her eyes.
"Why are you taking Cato? Where is your head right now?!" Nova demanded to her.
"I had hoped you would have even been the smallest shade like Nightfall," Ash closed her eyes as she briefly remembered the woman. "But you're not," She turned around and used her powers to twist the guns and trap the women to the walls.
"Ash!" Quinn called out.
"Ashy! Why are you doing this?!" Fox asked tearfully.
"Fox...Nova..." Ash floated over to them and Nova stepped in front of the Tryvuulian protectively. Ash sensed this and grew a little upset. "Come with me, all of you," She told them.
"Don't listen to her!" Sheryl gritted her teeth.
"Little Cato!"
"Enough!" Ash made them quiet with her telekinesis, turning to her siblings. "I can take you away from all the deceit and the weak liars!" She glared at the two. "We can be a true family, together."
"...No," Nova denied her, stepping back. "I don't like this, and you don't even know what you're saying!"
"I know what I heard from that lying Ventrexian!" Ash growled out at her. "So you're on his side...that was your mistake." She blasted Nova all the way to the other side of the hall, knocking her onto the ground.
"Nova!" Fox looked back at her.
"When she brought you back, I thought we were happy...but now you're both just like him!" She then knocked Fox onto the ground and trapped him with her telekinesis. She turned around to the Ventrexian, holding out her hand. "Take my hand."
Little Cato looked back at Nova fearfully, starting to tear up. "I can't..." He couldn't believe that this was Ash right now...
The two made it back onto the ship and flew in, running over to them. "Spider Cat!"
"Little Cato!" Avocato shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to locate them.
"Gary!" Quinn screamed loudly. "Here!"
They followed her voice, running as fast as they can. Ash towered over Little Cato. "Invictus is where I should have been all along," Her eyes turned purple. "And I want you to come with me." He frowned up at her, very concerned. "My siblings chose their place," She seethed, glancing back at them. "But now, you're the only one who's ever cared about me."
"W-wait! Wait! Wait, wait. What is going on? ...He really killed my parents?" Ash wouldn't hurt her siblings if this was a sick joke.
"Yes."
"LITTLE CATO!" Avocato screamed again and he glanced back.
"It's time to go," She placed his helmet on for him and took his hand. He retracted it back, looking back at Nova.
"Starlight!"
Before he could reach her, Ash broke the window with her powers. "NO!" She flew out the window with him just as Gary and Avocato reached the hall.
"No, I don't wanna go, Ash," Little Cato told her, looking towards her with saddened eyes. "That's my home...and my Starlight..."
He looked back at the Galaxy 2. "I've left lots of places called home. Trust me, you get over it," Ash gritted her teeth. "And you don't need Nova anymore. You'll be fine without her."
They watched the light disappear from their sight as they reached the hangar bay. Avocato kneeled onto the ground, looking up with grief. If he had told the truth sooner...none of this might not have happened...
Gary placed his hand on his shoulder. "I told you at one point, all of us are broken," He kneeled next to Avocato. "It's just a question of how much and how far we're willing to go to fix it." Avocato turned to him. "Well, how far are you willing to go?" He held out his hand.
Avocato looked back outside. "...All the way," He clasped Gary's hand and he helped Avocato up.
"Let's go get our son back."
Avocato nodded in agreement and they looked towards the outside as a devasting betrayal had hit the Team Squad...
"What the hell even happened to make Ash go crazy like this? Why would she kidnap Cato?" Nova asked in an upset tone and Avocato glanced at Gary nervously. If they told her the truth, there was the chance that she might go crazy just like Ash, though given the woman now, it was close to unlikely. But her reaction was something to be afraid of, nevertheless. Nova stared at the two, sensing that they knew something that she didn't. "What?"
"Ash...overheard Gary and I talking," Avocato took a deep breath. If anyone deserved to know the truth, it was Little Cato and Nova, since she was really concerned for him right now. "And...she found out that...I'm not Little Cato's real father. I was debating whether or not to tell him when the poison..." Her mouth opened as well as her eyes widening as he couldn't finish his sentence. Everyone besides Gary gasped at this. "And she reacted the way she did not because I'm not his father, but...because...his real parents were the King and Queen of Ventrexia. The real parents of someone that I passed off as my son for his whole life."
"...What?!" Nova seethed at him and he looked away in guilt.
"I..."
"I can't fucking believe you!" She shouted in anger, but not to the level where she would've gone crazy. "After all this time..." She ran a hand through her hair in disbelief. "He was gonna give up his life just to save you from a stupid bomb when we went back in time! Did you not remember that?!" She pointed at him angrily. "I was gonna lose him, again, for the sake of a lie!"
"...I know I don't deserve to live-"
"And you decided not to tell anyone!" She whipped towards Gary, who winced. "You bastards! What, were you two just gonna keep it to yourselves until your graves?! I joined this team because I felt like I fucking mattered. That I had a family! But now it's just...ugh!"
She clenched her fists, turning away from the two of them. It almost felt like she was reliving the moment when her parents gave her up to the Lord Commander and made a profit out of it. Little Cato essentially lost his sanity for 60 years, he was going to switch lives with Avocato, and he was in a funk. And yet now, it felt like all of that was pointless since the Ventrexian didn't even give birth to him. If Little Cato had switched with Avocato instead of Gary, she wouldn't have seen him for weeks. And she almost died in that time shard, so she was understandably pissed right now, just like Ash.
However, she wasn't going to snap on them unlike Ash, because deep down, she did understand that they didn't want to keep this a secret for so long. But it still angered her that the kidnapping happened in the first place.
Gary reached out a hand to her, sensing that she needed some comfort given what just happened. After all, she just fought against her sister. "Nova-"
"You lied to us!" Nova accused the two, who flinched. "You lied about everything! Everything, every stupid little thing that happened to us that was unsuccessful, and you just sat on your asses with this hanging over. Until today, I didn't question anything about him, or us!" She gestured to herself. "I thought I knew everything. But everything is a lie now! Maybe..." She started to tear up, looking away. "Maybe Cato and I are even a lie..."
She wasn't even mad anymore, she was just upset that it felt like everything she had gone through with Little Cato was fake...after everything they had been through, it felt like her world had burned down with this news, since it crashed after hearing about the Arachnitects.
"Are we even meant to be together anymore...?" She sniffled, and Gary felt horrible staring at her. Out of the reactions they could've gotten, they didn't expect this one. He had supported the two a lot, and for her to now have doubt because of Little Cato's past...he wished she didn't have to find out like this, right after Little Cato got taken.
"That's not true about you two being a lie."
She looked at Avocato, who had a serious look on his face. Another tear went down her cheek. "I'm not his real father...but even I know that by looking at you, he's just...happy," He looked towards the ground. "He always looks at you with a gleam in his eyes, and I know that it's love. And...I can tell that he's always felt that way with you, Nova. And I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you doubt your relationship. But don't let what I did make you question his love for you. He wouldn't take care of just anyone for 60 years and then ask for nothing in return."
Her lip quivered a bit upon hearing that. While relieved, she was still worried about Little Cato... "This just changes everything, though. I don't care if he's a prince or not, but what does that mean for him in the long run?"
Avocato's eyes widened as he had never gotten that question before. "...I don't know. But whatever life has in store for him...you'll always be there."
Nova closed her eyes, tears steaming down her face again. "We'll get him back, Nov..." Gary promised her and they stood there in silence.