CHAPTER 1: A much needed talk


Things you should know:

- I've been writing this story for a LONG time and I just love Little Cato x Ash so I finally decided to post it (Well a small bit of it anyway).

- The story's going to be really long so feel free to ask me if you want me to post one-shots from parts of my story.

- It contains lots and LOTS and LOTS of Little Cato x Ash fluff, so just be prepared... lol

If you have any advice or feedback please let me know, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Anyway, here's chapter 1! :)


Little Cato groaned as he sat up. He had barely slept all night and he knew it would be pointless to continue trying to fall asleep now. He let out a yawn as he looked down at his alarm clock. It was 6:00 am already!

Little Cato sighed as he rubbed his eyes sleepily. Normally he got up at around 9:30 or 10:00 but not today. Little Cato's ears pricked up when he heard footsteps followed by a knock on his door. Who else would be awake this early?

"Come in!" Called Little Cato, curious of whom it could be. His door automatically opened and he was delighted to see his father, Avocato.

"Hey, dad!" Little Cato happily greeted.

"Morning, son. I'm surprised you're up." Avocato responded with a slight smile.

"I couldn't sleep." Little Cato replied with a shrug.

"Why?" Asked Avocato inquisitively.

"Busy." Little Cato retorted.

"Busy doing what?"

"Thinking." Little Cato answered bluntly.

Avocato raised an eyebrow in slight curiosity. "About what?"

"Stuff." Little Cato replied, not bothering to climb down the ladder instead just jumping off. He then walked over to his dad.

Avocato let out a frustrated sigh before smiling slightly as he gave up on getting anything out of his son. They then left Little Cato's room and walked out into the corridor.

"So what did you come in for?" Asked Little Cato.

"Well…I couldn't sleep either. So I came to check if you were up." Avocato responded truthfully.

Little Cato nodded slowly as they turned a corner.

"So…You've been hanging out with a Tryvuulian, huh."

"Yeah." Little Cato confirmed, relieved that his dad didn't sound too judgemental, just slightly concerned.

"His name is Fox. He's okay. We fight a lot, but he's still my friend."

Avocato nodded. "What about the one with the pink hair and the powers?"

"That's Ash. She's incredible. She's got super cool powers and she's really nice! Well, most of the time…"

Avocato found what his son had said slightly odd. Little Cato usually wasn't that open. Avocato took a moment to glance at his son and was slightly surprised to see a small smile on his face. However, this smile was slightly different from his usual smile. He could have sworn it looked a tad more…dreamy than usual?

Then they arrived in the lounge room. Sitting down on the couch beside his son, Avocato stared out the space ship's window. They were all currently stuck in final space. And unlike normal space, final space was really dark. Super dark! So dark that when they looked out the window they could barely see anything but inky blackness.

Avocato eventually looked away from the window and focused his gaze on his son.

"So…Where's Ash from?" Avocato asked.

"Serepentis." Little Cato answered. "We went there before to get a dimensional key."

Avocato looked carefully at his son. He looked slightly sad.

"What happened there?"

"Do you really want to know the whole story?" Asked Little Cato with a sigh.

Avocato nodded.

(Btw, you can skip this if you want. It's basically a recap of season 2 episode 3) "Well…Ash didn't want us to go to Serepentis, her home planet, because the place brought back bad memories. She eventually told us that when she was little, her parents had sacrificed her sister, Harp, to a snake god named Worthrunt and she hadn't gone back to Serepentis since then. Later Ash for some reason decided that she now wanted to go get the key and we all went. Ash told us the dimensional key was inside Worthrunt, so we got swallowed up by the snake god. We soon found out that the key was the snake's heart, so when we took the key, the snake began to die. We then all had to quickly go through a portal to get out of the serpent before we died with it. However, Ash found her sister, and she didn't want to leave without her but like the rest of Worthrunt's victims, Harp had turned into something like a living zombie. I stayed behind and eventually convinced her to leave. She was really upset after that but we all did our best to make her feel better."

"Wow." Said Avocato softly as he tried to process all the new information. Little Cato was now staring out the window sadly.

Avocato gazed at his son who was silent with his ears slightly lowered and his mouth curving downwards to form a small frown. Avocato began to wonder just how much had happened while he'd been gone.

Little Cato finally looked away from the window and moved his gaze to his dad. He opened his mouth to speak looking a considerable amount more positive than before.

"After everything that had happened when she was little, I'm just glad Ash has her adopted brother, Fox. He cares about her a lot and is always happy to spend time with her and help her when she's feeling down…Although, I still think he's a bit of a jerk."

Avocato nodded in agreement as Little Cato went quiet again. Avocato watched his son and couldn't help but feel happy inside. He couldn't express how overjoyed and grateful he was to just talk to his son again. They'd basically been apart for over 3 years and Little Cato had grown up a lot since then. Avocato was so proud of him.

Avocato then thought more carefully about the story Little Cato had just told him and it made him feel slightly anxious. Were there any other horrible things that had happened to his son?

"What else has happened?" Asked Avocato in an apprehensive tone.

"Huh?"

"Was there any other bad thing that happened while I was gone?"

"Well…Umm, quite a few things actually…But I'm fine now." Little Cato told Avocato hesitantly hoping that that was enough information for his dad.

"Little Cato, tell me what happened." Said Avocato with an uneasy, but also stern gaze.

Little Cato averted his gaze away from his worried dad to look at his paws. There were quite a few bad things that happened to him while his dad had been gone but he didn't want to tell him all of them. This was mainly because it would make his dad worry. Although, he also really didn't want to lie to his dad by saying everything had been fine. Little Cato let out a barely audible sigh. He couldn't lie to his dad and whenever he had tried in the past, Avocato usually sensed his lie anyway.

"Well….I….Do I have to tell you?" Little Cato asked praying that he would say 'no'. However, his dad nodded curtly, just as he'd been expecting.

"Well, here it goes…" Little Cato said in a forced emotionless tone. "I almost died from trying to get revenge on the Lord Commander, twice. I had accidentally activated the self-destruct button on Nightfall's time machine and was almost erased from existence. We had also hit a time shard causing me to be trapped, alone on the other side of the ship for 60 years. And…"

"Wait. WHAT!" Avocato interrupted his eyes wide in pure horror. "You were alone for 60 YEARS!"

"Don't worry!" Exclaimed Little Cato quickly as he looked up at his dad. "Sure I was alone for 60 years, but I'm still alive! Everyone saved me! I'm alright now."

Avocato was still extremely worried. Why had he not mentioned this before? His son had already been trapped in a prison cell for 3 years by the Lord Commander, but now this! He honestly didn't know how the boy coped.

"Do you remember any of it?" Asked Avocato slightly fearing the answer.

"Yeah, all of it." Little Cato replied sadly as he subconsciously rubbed his arm.

Avocato gasped. "How did you stay sane?"

Little Cato started absentmindedly fiddling around with his tail, desperate to avoid his dad's anxious gaze. "I didn't."

"Then how the hell are you sane now?"

"I don't know." Little Cato answered with a small shrug.

Little Cato was still looking down at his tail. He couldn't help but remember all the years he had been alone. Little Cato tried to will away all of his negative thoughts but found it extremely difficult. Then he felt his father's arms wrap around him. Little Cato was slightly shocked at first but soon smiled and hugged his dad back.

"I've missed you so much and I can't explain how happy I am to have you back." Avocato gently told his son.

"I've missed you too." Little Cato replied softly as he hugged his dad slightly tighter.

Avocato soon pulled away and smiled brightly at Little Cato. "You've grown up so much in the last 3 years. You've been through so much yet you managed to pull through. You never lost hope. I'm proud of you son."

Little Cato smiled warmly at his dad, touched by what he'd said. He was so happy he was finally back with him.

Little Cato then remembered the thing that had been bothering him ever since he and Gary had come back from Kanopus Prime. He gazed at his dad for a split second longer before looking down, unable to meet his eyes. "Dad, you know when you were possessed by Invictus."

"Yeah…" Avocato answered, slightly perplexed after noticing his son's change in mood.

"Well…Do you happen to remember any of the things you said?" Little Cato asked hesitantly, once again nervously clutching his tail.

"Some of it." Avocato answered guiltily.

"D-Did you mean any of it?" Asked Little Cato holding his breath in apprehension.

Avocato gawked at his son in sudden alarm. He couldn't think he'd actually meant any of the words he'd said back then! HE HAD BEEN POSSESSED! Avocato calmed himself down by taking a deep breath.

"I didn't mean any of what I said. I was forced to say it by Invictus…Little Cato, I love you. I may not say it often, but I do. I always will."

Little Cato stared at his dad for a moment his eyes wide. Then he jumped up to hug his dad. He couldn't remember the last time he had said those 3 words to him or even if he had ever said them at all! Little Cato wiped away a tear as he smiled contently in his dad's arms.

"I love you too." Said Little Cato, unable to keep all the built-up emotion from his voice.

Little Cato then pulled away. He felt like everything felt too serious right now, so he smiled playfully and said, "Why the hell are you being so nice? Is it really you?"

"My favourite drink is still milk and I still fricking hate the Lord Commander." Avocato said with a hint of a smile. "Hey, what happened to that jerk anyway?"

"He's dead!" Little Cato exclaimed, unable to keep the gleefulness from his voice.

"Oh yeah, baby! That asshole was the fricking worst!" Avocato cried, disgusted just by the thought of him. The evil pine-sized devil who'd PUT HIS SON IN PRISON FOR LITERALLY NO REASON AND TRIED TO DESTROY THE UNIVERSE JUST FOR HIS OWN SELFISH DESIRES WAS DEAD! He couldn't be happier!

"I know! It's a shame I didn't get to see it happen. Nightfall just told us that he was dead, nothing else." Little Cato responded trying not to get too sad about thinking about Nightfall. Although he hadn't been as close to her as Gary and Ash had been, he still missed her and was devastated by her loss.

"Yeah, it would have given me so much pleasure to beat up that tiny evil devil until he was dead…" Avocato replied wistfully. Little Cato silently nodded in agreement. He HATED the Lord Commander SO much!

Little Cato and Avocato sat together for a few minutes in a comfortable silence, both just glad to be in each other's presence.

Then the doors to the lounge room opened and Ash came in.

"Good morning, you two!" Ash greeted happily as she smiled at both of them.

"Morning, Ash!" Little Cato replied, just as cheerfully as Ash. Although, he had no idea why his cheeks had heated up and he suddenly felt slightly nervous.

Ash's gaze lingered on Little Cato for a few seconds before looking around the room. Quickly spotting her grey lead pencil on the shelf where she'd accidentally left it the day before, Ash picked it up. She then decided to join the two and sat on the couch next to Little Cato.

Avocato looked at Ash in slight curiosity. This was the first Serepentian he'd ever met but he'd heard of them.

"You're up early." Ash said to Little Cato. "I usually don't see you up until around 10:00."

Little Cato tried his best to ignore all the feelings that had just come out of nowhere and answered Ash's question. "I couldn't sleep."

Ash nodded. She was slightly compelled to ask 'why', but she decided against it. Instead, she asked, "Have any of you had breakfast yet?"

Avocato and Little Cato both shook their heads in response.

"Me neither. I'm going to get something to eat." Stated Ash standing up to leave, despite just having come in.

"Me too." Said Avocato as he too stood up.

Then Avocato and Ash both looked down at Little Cato. "I'm not really hungry." Little Cato responded as he also stood up.

"You sure." Asked Avocato, not too concerned. His son never was one to eat a lot, usually only eating if he had too.

"Yeah." Little Cato replied. "I'm gone to my room."

"Okay, see you later." Said Avocato ruffling his son's fur. This made him smile.

"Bye." Ash said with a small wave as she and Avocato left.