"Previously on 'Final Space' ... Nightfall reveals that she's Quinn? From the future?! Whoa! Hot diggity! Also, she has a thing for Gary, but there's no time for cosmic three-ways...because our crew has a breach to close in space...and fast."
"Gary, you have two minutes of oxygen left."
"Can we...change that to something more cheerful?"
"Sure, Gary."
"Cookies. Act like you're baking a big batch of cookies."
"Gary, the cookies will be done in two minutes."
"Oh... fantastic. I love cookies. What kind of cookies we talkin' about?"
"Butter wheat crunch."
"That's... not a cookie. And you know that, H.U.E. You know that!"
"Crew!" Gary called the gang of misfits He was in his civilian clothes, consisting of a brown jacket, blue denim pants, brown boots and a red undershirt. "Or Legion of Murdering an Irritatingly Power-Thirsty Pint-Sized Imp into a Plethora of Buttholes!"
"Still need to work on the title," said Fly.
"Whatever. Are you ready to save the Earth?!"
Everyone cheered. "The question is, Captain, are you ready?" asked Little Cato.
"I'm so ready!"
"I'm so not ready!" Gary screamed into his diary. "How am I gonna save an entire planet? I'm all for trying, but there's a high chance we're all going to die!
"Yes. It's more or less a done deal." said HUE.
"That's not comforting at all! I can do this, right? Right?! Oh, this is impossible!
"Nothing is impossible if we apply our minds to it," said Gary as he finished his speech. "H.U.E., do we know of a way we can close this breach?"
"No."
"Well, that's not good. Okay, uh, well... anything at all we could do?"
"Yes. You can kiss your cheeks goodbye."
"You givin' me a little clap back?" Gary asked, annoyed. "You givin' me the old clap back, H.U.E.?!"
"I thought I'd give it a try before we implode into nothingness."
"You know," said Fly. "You could try to be a bit more positive."
"Okay. We're all going to die swiftly and painlessly. Yaaayyy."
Fly groaned.
"'Implode into nothingness,' he said," Gary said in the diary, clearly panicking. "Oh, my gosh. Freaking Mondays."
"Gary, am I gonna die?" asked KVN, not the least bit afraid.
"Are you trying to cheer me up, KVN? Okay, because you dying would be a wonderful development.
"We're all gonna die," he sang. "We're all gonna di..."
Fly smashed a hammer in his head. "Shut up, KVN. Or I will find ways."
"Actually, there is a way," Nightfall said. "H.U.E., set coordinates for sector 12, region 6.79."
"Nightfall, that would fly us directly into the sun at the heart of the Orion Nebula."
"I know."
"We are not flying into a sun," Fly shouted.
"Do you want to live?"
"Yes. I would love to live," Fly said sarcastically. "That's exactly freaking why we're not flying into a sun!"
"You're right. We're going to lightfold in."
"That's freaking worse!" screamed Gary, his eye twitching. "You said it like it was better, but that is the opposite of better!"
Quinn narrowed her eyes at her future counterpart. "I would never suggest this unless I knew something you're not sharing. What do you know?"
"Quinn, aren't you curious how you became me?"
"If that answers even involves flying into a sun," said Gary. "I'm not curious."
"I don't think anybody's curious."
KVN suddenly laughed maniacally, "I'm curious! Keep going!"
Fly let out a scream and smashed him into the floor. "Must you, KVN?! Must you?!" KVN just giggled at her. "GRRR!" She growled. Then she sighed, too tired to deal with this. "Just tell us, Nightfall."
"There's only one being who can help us," Nightfall said. "A Titan who inhabits a realm between our dimension and the next called Inner Space. He came to me. At my lowest point. He told me he offered salvation. He told me that there was a time machine that he can build with my help. His name was...Bolo."
"This guy, he's a Titan?" asked Fly. "Those god things Cetus talked about?"
"They are not gods," Nightfall said with a growl. "They are terrible, vengeful creatures who poison the universe with chaos. Each in charge of a different realm."
"So, they're more like the Great Old Ones from Lovecraft."
The future Quinn let out a dark chuckle. "They make the Great Old Ones look like Little Mary Sunshine. Anyway," she said, continuing her story. "One broke ranks. Bolo. He saw there was a better way and sealed off our dimension from the horrors of Final Space. They took revenge and imprisoned him. He's the only one who can help."
Gary let out an impressed laugh. "That's sick. Older hot Quinn makes an excellent point. If Bolo's the only one that can help us, we've got no choice."
"Chookity-pock!"
"Well said, Mooncake. Let's fly through a sun." Then Gary realized what he just said. "Oh, my Lord. I cannot believe we are doing this."
Fly let out a laugh and started singing KVN's song. "We're all going to die, we're all going to die!"
The ship arrived at the sun after leaving lightspeed.
"Dimension phasing is notoriously difficult," said Nightfall seriously. "To see Bolo, we're going to have to lightfold exactly through the sun's aperture."
"If we are off by even one degree, we burn up and die," informed HUE. "Buckle up. This will be a bumpy ride."
"All right, H.U.E.," said Gary. "Take us in!"
The ship headed straight for the sun. "Entering into the corona of the sun." The light was starting to grow from bright to blinding. Suddenly, alarms blared as the temperature in the bridge rapidly started to rise. "The heat of the sun has melted through the navigation system," said HUE. "You will need to manually navigate it into the aperture."
Fly fell to her knees and began rocking back and forth. "We're all going to die," she sang. "We're all going to die!"
"All right, I'll do it." said Gary, taking control.
"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" screamed Fly. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"
"Pull yourself together," Quinn shouted, slapping her in the face. "And Gary, you're not a good pilot."
"Thank you very much for believing in me, Quinn!"
"Please do not screw this up."
"Okay, that's not helping!" Gary pulled the lever and accelerated the ship. "Concentrate, Gary. You gotta do this. Let's thread this needle." The light from the sun intensified, and the temperature grew to the point the metal outside the ship started to glow red. "Come on, come on, come on, come on!"
"Gary! Center it!" shouted Nightfall.
"I got this!"
"You got this, Thunder Bandit!" encouraged Little Cato.
"No, you don't!" shouted Quinn.
"Center it!" shouted Nightfall again.
"Oh, you're scaring me! I'm scared!" said Gary.
"Center it!"
"I'm very frightened!"
"Gary!" everyone screamed.
Suddenly, the ship drove itself into a black hole and they found themselves in a tunnel of multiple colors, swirling lights and then...
Nothing but darkness.
"Welcome to Inner Space," said Nightfall.
Suddenly, something huge drifted slowly toward them: it looked like a huge, blue skeletal being with multiple glowing eyes and horns stuck in a cramp, crystalline cube. Its feathered outfit almost reminded the crew of an Aztec god.
"Is that...Bolo?" asked Fly, very much afraid. Little Cato hid behind her back.
"Yes," said Nightfall.
"Just our luck," Gary said when he saw the Titan's eyes were rolled back into his head. "He's... asleep."
"Gary, he's been asleep for 10,000 years."
"Well, then why are we here?"
"Wait for it."
"Wait for wha..." Before Little Cato could finish his sentence, the ship was pulled into Bolo's centermost eye. Everyone screamed as they were pulled into another tunnel of light until they were in another realm. A realm of yellow light with what looked like floating giant lily pads all around.
"Get me the hell out of here!" screamed one of the SAMEs.
"Did we just get sucked into dude's mind?" Gary asked.
"Don't worry, that's normal," said Nightfall, calm.
"This is not normal!" screamed Fly. "This is a winter wonderland of cosmic cotton candy!"
Gary headed for one of the platforms before he lost his mind even more. "I'm just gonna put this down right on this little lily pad. Oh, there we go." After landing and exiting the ship, the group met a new weird creature. It looked like a flaming blue ball with noodle arms and legs. In its left hand it, it carried a bone with a blue crystal on the top.
"Oh, hey, there's a guy," Gary pointed the creature out. "Hey. Hey!" he called out. "So, not sure we're in the right place, but we got this thing ..."
"YOU'RE LATE!" the creature suddenly screamed, startling everyone.
"Late?" asked Fly, confused.
"Yes, late! He's been waiting on you for years!"
"You're like a giant flaming M&M," Gary pointed out.
"Excuse me?!" the creature yelled again. "Are you giving me sass?!" He smacked Gary with the bone.
"Freaking...! Did you just whack me in the face with your stick?!" He got smacked again. "Aah! You and I are not gonna get along."
The creature tapped its staff and the platform they were on zipped forward at breakneck speed. Then, they suddenly came to a halt and found themselves in a landscape of weird bubbles. "Explain... to me..." Gary panted. "What just happened."
"We hopped over to Brain Chamber Two," said the fireball nonchalantly.
"'Hopped?' No, no, no, no! We were hurled..."
The fireball tapped his staff again and the group were hurled once more before coming a stop in a new landscape, one made of brain matter.
Something dripped onto Gary's shirt. "Oh, there's moisture. Am I...?" He suddenly began to see red. "I think my eyes are bleeding!" The creature laughed hysterically as he ran around, screaming, "My eyes! Blood! Blood!"
The creature just chuckled. "This is only Brain Chamber Six."
"How many are there?" Fly asked, impatiently.
"Hundreds, Elizabeth," said the creature. "Now shut up and hold tight."
"What did you call MEEEEEEEE?!" Fly screamed as they were thrusted forward again before coming to a stop. "Ooh, I'm going to barf."
"Here we are. Chamber number 795. Bolo's Mind Palace." This new realm was more mountainous and above was a green and black sky. Across the platform the group was standing on was a huge column of light. The fireball gestured to it. "Beyond this point, only one of you may enter, and it's already been pre-selected. Yooooou!" He pointed to Gary. "You've been chosen. But then again, you were already selected before you were even born!"
"We'll be here, Gary," said Quinn.
"You got this!" encouraged Little Cato.
Mooncake cooed and hugged Gary's head.
Suddenly, KVN held Moocake in a hug. "KVN will look after Mooncake, 'cause he's so helpful. Oh, baby, KVN's got the magic," he sang, which only served to annoy Mooncake. "And the magic's got KVN."
Fly snatched Mooncake away from him and smashed him into the ground. "You're a bad influence. Okay? 'Cause I don't like you."
"Thank you, Fly," said Gary.
"Chookity!" agreed Mooncake as he sat on Fly's head.
"Good luck, Gary," said Nightfall.
Gary stepped forward into the column of light and found himself in a dark room. "Come forth, Gary," said a deep voice that seemed to come from everywhere. Gary did as he was told and found himself in another dimensional room. Walking all over the place were versions of himself. There was a ninja Gary, an alien Gary, a skeleton Gary, a furry Gary, a woman Gary, a plant man Gary...you get the idea. There were a lot of Garys.
"Oh, my gosh. Okay," he said, a little creeped out and amazed at the same time. "Okay. This is new."
"In order to face what's ahead," said the deep voice. "You need to face what's inside of you."
Gary gasped as he pointed to one of his clones. "Oh, look! There's a Construction Hat Gary."
"Hey!"
"There's an Eagle-Faced Gary."
"Hiiiiiiiii!"
"Cookie-Headed Gary."
"Hi. What's up?"
"Oh, my gosh! Little Micro Gary."
"Hey!"
Gary gasped loudly at one more counterpart. "Who's that?"
"That's the Amazing Mustache Gary," said the voice.
The mustached Gary sneered at his clean-faced counterpart. "Gary, you're never gonna be able to grow one of these. A thick, rich, luscious mustache." He moaned lustfully as he twirled his facial hair. "Hell yeah, that feels good!"
Gary glared at his mustached counterpart with envy. "It's true. I've never been able to grow a mustache."
"I wish I was a crumb, so I could get caught in this."
"What are you doing, Mustache Gary?"
"Combing my Mustache with my little mustache comb!" He smirked at Gary with pride. "But you'll never know the satisfaction of that." He moaned again as he combed his facial hair. "Oh, it feels so gooooood!"
"Ugh, it's so true. I won't." He suddenly felt something grab his legs. He looked down. "Oh, no. What is this?" The ground he was standing on was suddenly pulling him in. "Aah! What's happening?!"
"Your anxiety is consuming you," said the voice. "You know you can't succeed."
"Because I can't grow a 'stache?"
"That's exactly why," laughed the Amazing Mustached Gary.
As Gary struggled to get out, he suddenly found himself facing the large skeletal monster he and his friends saw before. He realized to whom the deep voice belonged. It was Bolo. "You're no hero," said the Titan. "Your father was."
As Gary struggled some more, he finally realized what he was afraid of and it wasn't about not getting a mustache. "You're right. He would've figured this out. I'm scared there's no winning this, that there's no way to close this breach without losing my friends." Just like that, the ground let him go. "Okay. Let's not do that again!"
"All progress begins with the truth," said Bolo.
"We're running out of time," Gary said to him. "I need to know right now how to close this breach."
"I don't have the answer for you, but he will."
Gary was confused and he had no time for stupid riddles. "Who the hell is 'He Will'? I don't know a 'He Will'."
"You'll only have a short time."
Gary suddenly found himself in a ship's bridge. It looked as though the place was at the starting point of an explosion; there was a bright light outside the window and there were SAMEs caught on fire. "Hello?" he called out. Suddenly, a figure turned around. Gary took one look at the stranger's face. It was a face he knew all to well. "Dad."
Outside, the group was getting worried. "What's going on with Gary?" Fly asked.
"He's fine," the fireball said nonchalantly.
"Show them, Gatekeeper," said Nightfall.
"Reveal your secrets!" demanded Little Cato. "And if you hit me, I will end you."
"What the cat said," growled Fly.
The fireball, or rather the Gatekeeper, made an annoyed sound. "Oh, my gosh! You are all so sassy!" He tapped his staff on the ground and an image of Gary and his father appeared in the sky. "Just watch and leave me alone already."
Suddenly, Bolo's voice said, "Mooncake, follow my voice."
"Chockity."
"KVN, stop touching stuff."
"And the magic's got KVN! Everybody!"
Gary took a step closer to the older man. "Dad, it's me, Gary."
John Goodspeed just made a confused look. "Dad? Who the hell are you? And why did time freeze? Did you freeze time?" He pulled out a gun. "You time-freezing demon!"
Gary held up his hands defensively. "Whoa! Okay, look. I don't think you would believe me if I told you how I got here. But I'm telling you I am your son."
"My son is much younger, a boy half your age." John pressed the gun into Gary's head. "If you're really my son, what was the promise?"
"What?"
"Before I left."
Gary smiled. "To have my adventures. Bunches and bunches of them."
John was shocked when he heard that. He lowered his gun. "Is it really you?"
"As real as it gets, Dad." The two men hugged. "Oh, hell yeah," Gary said as he felt a tear go down his cheek.
The two men broke the hug and John asked, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"It's a real novel, but I'm trying to save the Earth ... actually universe sounds way cooler, so I'm actually gonna say 'universe' from now on."
"You're what?"
"I'm trying to find out how to close a breach in space that will most certainly destroy Earth ... actually universe ... in my time. God, that sounds so cool. I really feel cool saying that out loud."
John said, "Well, that's what I'm doing now!"
"What?"
"You're doing what I'm doing. I'm doing what you're doing!"
Gary got excited. "No way!"
"Look!"
John pointed out the window, revealing a breach not unlike the one Gary and the others were trying to close. "You're closing the breach in space?"
"Me and my co-pilot, yeah." John gestured to the right. The co-pilot was a small alien with green skin, yellow eyes and an olive-shaped head.
Gary's eyes widened with horror. "What is he doing here?!"
"Jack's my co-pilot," explained John. "We've been doing missions together for years."
"Jack?! This guy is the Lord Commander!"
"Who?"
"The guy who ripped my arm off," Gary gestured to his robot arm. "With his mind and killed my best friend."
John couldn't believe it. "Jack is my co-pilot. He's been my friend for 29 years." Then he smiled, "But I'll take your word for it. Well, what do you say we beat the crap out of him, son?"
"You are my dad." Gary grabbed Jack and threw him onto the control panel. Jack didn't even react as he was still frozen in time. "Hey! You sick sack of ..." Gary then proceeded to punch him in the face. Then John joined in on the fun. They punched him, kicked him, poked him in the eyes, gave him purple nurples, they were not going to stop until the future Lord Commander was a bloody mess.
"Every boy dreams of building cherished memories... Like this."
"Harder!"
"Oh, and this!
"Kick him in the nuts!"
"Oh, and these!"
To crown it all off, they took a selfie with what was left of Jack.
With the fun over, John asked his son seriously, "When was the last time you saw me?"
"Right before this mission. You never came back."
John realized what that meant. "So, I'm about to die, huh?"
Gary said, determined, "Not if I can help it. So how are we gonna close this breach? I need to know for me."
"An anti-matter bomb detonated at the event horizon of the breach." John showed a hologram of the event. "The thing is, right before you came aboard, an energy blast in Final Space was about to hit our ship. Time froze, and now there's no way to deliver the bomb."
Gary had an idea. "Unless..."
"Hit me." Gary hit Jack's face. "Nice."
"Thanks. What if you take out the bomb manually?"
"That could work."
"Really?" Gary chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "Wow, I mean, we could do it together."
Meanwhile, Mooncake was back in the tunnel with the brain matter lining the walls. "Mooncake," said Bolo. "It's time you knew."
Suddenly, KVN appeared and started taking some of that brain matter off the walls. "Whoa, look at all this cool brain stuff. Hmm. That's mine, and that's mine, and that's mine. Hey, let's do Jell-O shots with the brain goo!"
Mooncake ignored him as he was greeted with a new vision: large green globs coming together. "You're the key to Final Space," said Bolo. "Because that's what you're made of. Final space." Then the globs shrunk down as they became a single being: Mooncake.
"Chookity..." Mooncake said with awe. He just watched his own birth. Ignoring KVN's annoying singing, he flew back to the Galaxy 1.
"We'll need to take out the primary and secondary trigger," said John as he typed on the bomb's keyboard.
"Right," said Gary. "I have no idea what that is, so I'm gonna look at you and nod in agreement."
John smiled. "So, you met anybody?"
"No, well, kind of. I'm seeing two people at the same time ... but mainly, I'm not like cheating because they're the same person.
"Got it. Time-travel thing?"
"Yes!" said Gary, excited.
John wasn't surprised. "Been there."
The two men high fived and laughed.
"What's their name?" asked John.
"Quinn."
"What's she like?"
"The younger hot one? Or the older equally hot one?"
"The one in your timeline."
Gary thought for a while before saying, "Well, she's headstrong, focused, and a real leader."
"Do you love her?"
"Ohh! To the max-core." Gary frowned. "But I don't think she thinks very much of me."
John chuckled. "Really? You're a catch."
Gary's eyes widened. "You think I'm a catch? You ... you think so?"
"I'm looking at you, I'm seeing a catch."
Quinn blushed as she watched this scene. Gary was quite a catch. In a way.
John put the finishing touches on the bomb. "All right, it's ready to go."
"You sure there isn't anything else that needs to be done?" Gary asked. "Bomb-wise? Anything else at all?"
"That's it," said John. "Let's go."
"We could get lunch," said Gary, following after him. "You want to get lunch?"
John opened the door when he stopped. "Son. Grab the plasma torch."
Gary did as he was told, but when he heard the door lock, he ran back to it. John looked at his son sadly though the window. "What are you doing? Dad!" Gary banged on the window. "Dad, don't do this without me!"
John said as Gary tried to pry the door open, "Son, you have your own time to worry about."
Gary pounded on the glass again. "Dad! This ... This was my idea."
"Yeah, but it's my responsibility. There's another anti-matter bomb in New York. The one on Earth. Use it to close this breach in your time." John reached for a space helmet and dusted it off. He glanced at his son and smiled at him. "You know, I had only one regret when I left. Thought I was never gonna get the chance to see the man you would've grown up to be. Well, now I know he's better than I would've ever hoped." He put the helmet on and opened the air lock.
"Please don't... Stop. Please," Gary pleaded. John ignored him and jumped out. Gary banged on the glass. "Stop. Stop. Stop! Stop! No! Please no! Stop! I'm not gonna let you die. Not again. I'm gonna come get you!"
John spoke through his son's communicator. "Make me a promise, son. Save the Earth. Nah, you're right. 'Universe' sounds much cooler."
Gary fell to his knees. "What if I can't do it?"
"Try your best."
"What if my best isn't good enough?"
"It's good enough for me."
John entered the beach, and opened the bomb. He took one last look at his son, then pressed the button.
Gary could only watch as his father was consumed by a bright light. "Noooooooo!"
"No." whspered Quinn as the scene played.
At that moment, time resumed playing. Jack immediately felt the pain John and his son inflicted on him all at once. "Aaah! Oh, God!" Then the explosion occurred. "Aaaah!" But he survived, absorbing all the explosion's energy that gave him his powers. And would drive him to insanity as he became the Lord Commander.
And from that same explosion, the little green blob that would come to be known as Mooncake was born.
The next thing Gary knew, he was back with his friends. He fell to his knees and sobbed. "Why?"
Little Cato walked up to him and wrapped his arms around him. "Didn't know we were members of the same club," he said.
Quinn walked over and helped the two up. "Gary, you still want to do this?"
Gary wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "I'll try my best."
"That's good enough for me."
Gary suddenly realized, "Wait ... were you watching me and my dad?"
Quinn immediately denied it, but then Fly said, "Yes."
Meanwhile, Nightfall put on her cloak and helmet and turned to leave. "Where are you going?" the Gatekeeper asked.
"They don't need me anymore."
Gary, Quinn, Fly and Little Cato lied down on their backs to watch the stars. "If I had words to make a day for you," sang Fly. "I'd sing you a morning, golden and true. I would make this day last for all time, then fill the night deep in moon shine."
Everyone turned to her. "What the heck was that," Little Cato asked.
"My mom sang me that song whenever I was down. In moments like these, I would sing that song to cheer myself up." She turned to Gary. "How do you feel now?"
"A bit better."
"That's good."
There was a moment's silence.
"Should we get up?" Gary asked after a few more minutes.
"No. We have a little time." said Quinn.
"Actually, you don't!" screamed the Gatekeeper. "Get off your sass buckets!"
When the crew returned to the ship the first thing that happened was HUE asking, "Gary, is Nightfall not coming with us?"
Gary sighed. "No."
"You think you know a person, and then something like this happens."
Little Cato sat in the pilot's seat and asked, "What course should I set?"
"Earth. Or actually, no, the Universe."
Fly gave Gary a look. "We are in the Universe."
"Well, actually ... eh ... you know what I mean."
"So, we're going to Earth?"
"Yeah."
"We've got a bomb to find," said Quinn with determination.
When the ship entered lightspeed and exited the sun, Fly left the bridge so she can make a quick bathroom break. At least, that's what she told the crew. In secret, she went to HUE's computer mainframe. "HUE, can you keep a secret?"
"Of course," he said. "But what secret?"
Fly exhaled. "Cetus is my daughter, right?"
"Yes."
"You never did say who the father was."
"That is correct."
"Well, can you...make another check?"
"Calculating." A few beeps later, HUE said, "The results are in. The father is..." He paused. "Oh, my."
Fly's face remained neutral. "Yeah, that's what I thought. HUE, I ask you again don't tell anyone."
"Will you tell them?"
"Yeah. When the time is right."