3rd Person POV

"Alright, we should be good to go!" Rocket yelled up to Peter from the hatch that led down to the main engine, "Fire it up!"

"On it." Peter tapped a few commands on the adjustable tablet screen before pushing the lever forward to fire up the engines, only for a loud *boom* to be heard from down below followed by an irritated yell and kick to metal,

"Stupid piece of- *clink*!"

"What's going on now?" Gamora questioned as she entered the bridge.

"What's goin' on is we're not flarggin' goin' anywhere until the kid wakes up to give the ship a jumpstart!" Rocket announced as he entered the bridge with his fur covered in soot and smoke rising from a small fire on his tail.

"Uh Rocket?" Peter motioned to the growing fire behind him making Rocket look behind him and yell before he patted the fire down himself.

"Where's Drax?" Peter asked as he barely noticed he was missing.

"Oh big guy went to explore the place, was convinced he heard something outside." Rocket responded like it was meant to be obvious.

"And you didn't think to tell us why?!" Peter exclaimed before Rocket waved him off with,

"Re-lax would ya, I put a tracer on him before he left." Rocket used his wrist device to project an image of a red dot among the gray of their surroundings.

"Ok Einstein, then uh tell me, what're those four heat signatures behind him?" Peter pointed to said dots behind the main red one.

"Whatever's still alive on this planet." Rocket grabbed one of his many large guns and went out of the ship as Drax's dot was edging closer to the ship, so whatever was behind him was getting closer too.

"Get ready." Gamora unsheathed her blade, pointing it ahead to the forest of burned tree trunks.

"For what exactly?" Peter questioned as he got his blasters out as well.

"Just shut it and get ready to shoot" Rocket readied the gun as it powered up.

Out from the charred brush, Drax emerged, covered in what looked like green mud, but otherwise unharmed.

"Oh my-!" Rocket pinched his nose while gagging at the smell of the gunk that was covering Drax, even though he was still several feet from him.

"Ugh! What is that stuff?" Peter covered his face with his sleeve as well while Gamora just turned her face the other way and made silent coughing noises.

"I landed in the midst of a disgusting marshland, there is nothing on this planet left alive." Drax explained simply as if the smell wasn't bothering him.

Right after he said that, three creatures burst through the dead forest; they looked like larger, scarier Orloni's with long talons on their front legs and their backsides converged into a single snake-like tail with razor spikes on the spine and their colors were muted grays and browns to blend into their lifeless environment.

"Oh yeah what about them?!" Rocket prepared to shoot them when another, smaller version of the creatures with brighter colors, a bushy tail, feathery antennae, and oddly shaped ears rushed out from behind the first three to stop them from coming any closer to the four Guardians.

"Uhhhh what's happening?" Peter lowered his weapons in confusion.

A shrill cross between a cat's meow and a dog's bark emanated from the smaller being and the larger beings responded with gruffer growls before they backed off and retreated back into the forest.

"Did that small thing just tell them to back off?"

"Clearly that is what happened." Drax stated matter of factly.

"Stop asking obvious questions." Gamora criticized as she sheathed her blade and the small being walked up to them.

The small creature sat right in front of the four of them and held up one of its tiny paws toward them.

"What's it doin'?" Rocket fully powered down his weapon.

"I think it wants you to shake. You know hands er paws." Peter suggested and Rocket grumbled before taking the creature's paw and its antennae lit up with a light blue glow.

I sense one of the planet guardians with you... The being telepathically spoke with Rocket in a feminine voice as he was trying his best to not freak out.

"Don't know what you're talkin' abo-"

Do not attempt to deceive me, I sense she is on your spaceship in a power overload stasis, if you do not bring me to her, she will die. The creature ripped her paw from Rocket's, one of her spines stretched out to attach itself to Rocket's wrist, and her cat-like eyes narrowed into slits at the last part of the mental conversation.

"Alright, the... freaky feline's comin' aboard." Rocket began to lead the alien to the ship as the others looked on in confusion.

"Uh ok then?" Peter accepted that and followed them inside before grimacing at Drax's odor.

"Seriously go clean that stuff off, we just got a brand new ship, let's not ruin'er after only a day."

A few minutes later, the feline was led into the bridge where JJ was still resting with the power cord fallen out of her grasp and baby Groot still watching over her.

"Alright here she is, now get your... spine cuff off me."

Very well... but how will I communicate with you and your team?

"Well I ain't no translator so figure it out." Rocket groaned as he crossed his arms before the extended spine detached from his wrist and the creature made her way up the bench to sit next to JJ as Peter and Gamora came in.

"What are you exactly?" Gamora questioned and the spine once again extended out, this time waiting for Gamora to take it. She grasped it and it fully attached itself around her wrist before mentally speaking,

You may call me Gora, I am known as a Granaphora, a highly intuitive being of this former peaceful planet, Chrysinthea...

"Chrysinthea?"

"What'd you say?" Rocket asked urgently, recognition clear in his voice.

"You've heard of it?" Peter asked.

"This is JJ's home planet. She said it had been completely destroyed."

That is only half correct, the planet itself is dead, but there are few non-Chrysinthean survivors that live outside of this desolate place.

"We keep hearing about there being other Chrysintheans still being alive but no one's ever actually seen one in person." Peter pointed out, referring back to when Nove Prime had told them of alleged encounters with some of the elusive people.

Naturally, the people of this planet were known to hide in plain sight because they feared how they would be reacted to after so much hatred from other 'purist' beings who saw their people as nothing more than a plague.

"Thanos once mentioned a race of beings who could harness incredible powers but would use that power to infest the galaxies wherever they would go, I didn't think he meant this place."

You should have seen it when it was still alive... Gora's antennae glowed a light yellow and, in her mind's eye she saw forests reaching up to the multi-colored sky, people going about their day happily chatting with others, children playing with technologies that seemed both futuristic and natural.

All the people of this planet wanted was peace, yet the Mad Titan had to take it all away... Gora's mental voice cracked at the last part as if she wanted to cry but was unable to.

"Alright alright enough of the sappy talk, you said JJ was gonna die if we didn't let you in, now fix her." Rocket interrupted the moment with half impatient half annoyed tone as he pointed back to JJ.

You do not have to be so impolite about it. Gora rolled her eyes and drew her spine back from Gamora before plunging the tip into the spot on JJ's chest where the lights had been coming from before. As soon as it made contact, glowing veins made their way up to JJ's face where her eyes burst open and she bolted upright with a gasp.

"Woah! What in the flipping krutack just happened?!" JJ exclaimed as she grasped the area where the creature had its spine in before she rapidly pulled it out.

"Hmph 'bout time you woke up from your beauty rest." Rocket tried to sound grumpy but couldn't stay that way because of how relieved he was that JJ was OK.

I merely recharged you with the very life force that once kept this planet alive. Gora hopped up to the bench to sit healed right in front of JJ.

"Uhhhh who're you?" JJ went to poke Gora's antennae before the spine reached over and abruptly stopped her.

"What the?!"

Please don't, my antennae are extremely sensitive.

"Ok, I dunno what's goin' on, but-" JJ's confused exclaim was cut off when they heard loud rumblings coming from outside above them.

"Any chance that's just your buddies from before?" Peter asked Gora and she shook her head.

"Surrender the Subject or we will open fire!" A loud voice demanded from outside.

"Oh great just what we needed." Peter threw his hands up before making his way up to the cockpit.

"They found us?" JJ asked somewhat annoyed.

"Yeah and now that you're awake maybe we got a shot at gettin' away."

"Why? So they could just hunt us down again? No, I'm done running from these creeps and making you guys follow because of me." JJ clenched a fist to her chest as she squeezed her eyes shut and the light from before it lit up again, dying down only when JJ's eyes opened up again with small sparks lighting up in them.

"Stay here." JJ stated before she started walking out, leaving no room for anyone to protest.

"What's that Sparkplug up to?" Rocket grumbled as he pulled up the surveillance video of the outside showing that JJ was walking toward the two dropships of the Oajins that were hovering right outside only several feet off the ground.

A soft brush against his wrist alerted him to Gora's spike touching him as she mentally spoke,

She is doing what she must to protect her new family...

"Just don't do anything too stupid kid..."

Meanwhile with JJ outside

JJ stepped in front of the dropships with her hands up, but her eyes were lit up like stormy clouds and her hair was raised around her head in a static manner as small electric arcs rose from the ground to gather at the base of her boots.

"I want you to send a message to Kryjer for me!" JJ's raised hands turned to fists as electricity started to crackle around them, shooting toward the dropships and enveloping them in an eerie bluish-gray glow. Shouts of panic came from inside the ships as the pilots were wondering why their systems weren't working and that hey had been hacked as JJ finished up her threat,

"Tell him that I don't care what he has planned for me, that I will never become his weapon and that if he gets anywhere near my family, powers or no, I will do everything I can to make him regret ever 'upgrading' me." JJ's eyes were practically burning a bright blue as she gave one last thrust of her hands and the dropships' navigation systems were reprogrammed to hyperdrive themselves back to the Oajin's main ship.

Exhausted from overusing her powers twice in one day, JJ dropped her hands, closed her eyes, and fell down to her knees as her head bowed down a bit.

JJ! Gora leaped down to the ground to help her up with her spines but she silently moaned and held her head with one hand while using the other to stand up.

"Will ya quit givin' me heart attacks." Rocket came over and punched JJ's knee, making her sway a bit but chuckled nonetheless as they led her back aboard the ship.

"Seriously just when I think you've reached your max, you still manage to keep surprisin' us." Peter gently clapped his hand on her shoulder seeing that she was still a little woozy.

"I have finally managed to fully rid myself of the marsh slime." Drax came up from the lower deck and everyone looked at him in disbelief,

"What? What did I miss?"

"Everything Drax, everything." JJ let out an exhausted laugh as she sat back, blowing a puff of air out in exhaustion.

I suppose now you'll be wanting to leave this place... Gora spoke with JJ through soft contact to her wrist with her spine.

"Or you could come with us." JJ raised an eyebrow as she offered with a disgruntled,

"What?!" From Rocket before he was shooed out and everyone else also left after sensing the need to. After everyone left, Gora seemed to smirk before nodding and jumping up to sit by her side.

I guess there is a certain appeal to adventuring around the cosmos in search of the others, when the time is right...

JJ froze a bit hearing the last part of Gora's sentence remembering her own mother's words. Abruptly, a crash sounded from downstairs followed by angry yelling, making JJ smirk before saying,

"Let's just hope you can handle the mission of dealing with everyone aboard this krutack crazy ship."

No problem. Gora hopped down and was followed by JJ as she touched the walls of the ship and jump-started it to where they flew off of Chrysinthea's surface.

Meanwhile with the Oajin's

A fist smashed down on the table full of folders, diagrams, and charts as Kryjer had finished listening to the latest reports from the soldiers he had sent out to retrieve the subject.

"You may have eluded capture this time, Subject J75-4, but let's see you run from your own kind once they've been turned to the truth..."

Kryjer pulled out another map from underneath a folder that had the title "Possible Hideouts and Allies" written across the top in black ink with several planets and star systems circled and crossed out with one particular blue and green planet circled multiple times in red with a small flame symbol next to it.

2365 Words

AN- Sorry it's been a while since I've updated, but school has been a real killer to both my free time and to my creativity. I am still trying my absolute best to update chapters when I can, but I'm also working on a separate project that I hope to reveal soon once I finalize some drafts. This story will be held off for the second movie until I finish some more of my Avengers OC Insert story, so see you in the next movie.