JJ's POV

As we walked through the ship to get to the launch bay that would get us to the dropship that would take us to Ego's surface, I saw Gora trying to get on so I held out a hand right as Rocket told her,

"You're not goin' anywhere"

"I have to!" She tried to argue but I told her,

"You're still weak, you need to rest."

"What if you...?" She looked down and I could tell from her expression what she was about to say so I kneeled down to her level before assuring her,

"You're not gonna lose me, it'll take more than a pissed off planet to take me out. Plus someone needs to keep an eye on Groot."

Gora looked down at the little being who was standing around idly staring at the ship before she looked back up at me and gave a nod to go ahead so we continued to walk toward the dropship.

"Rocket?!" Gamora's voice finally came through the communicator.

"Keep that transmitter nearby so I can find you. We're in an old piece of construction equipment Yondu once used to slice open the Bank of A'askavaria." Rocket told her through the comm as they climbed the ladder into the ship.

"Ego's unhinged."

"I know. Get ready."

"Drop it, Kraglin!" Yondu ordered and the ship was released and was being piloted to the planet when I felt something rustling around in one of the pouches on my belt and I looked down to see Groot smiling up at me.

"Groot!" I yelled catching Rocket's attention as I scolded him,

"We told you to stay with Gora!"

"I am Groot!"

"Whaddya mean you want to kick some a-"

"Hey he needs to watch his language!" Rocket reminded me and I rolled my eyes before telling Groot,

"OK fine! Just stay close to one of us." Before I handed him to Rocket as I made my way over to a console.

"Let's see if we can speed this up." I readied my hands against it.

"What're you doin'?!"

"I took some before, time to give it back" I answered as the marks on my arm glowed and sent a stream of energy through my arms into the console, sending the ship blasting forward down into the planet's atmosphere right toward a fancy looking building that Yondu steered us straight for. We all braced as he drove the ship right through the window and in a split second I saw Ego holding Quill on the end of some freaky glowing tentacle before Yondu yelled,

"Hey there, Jackass!" Smashing Ego underneath the ship before the side door opened to let the others, including Nebula, in and Groot waved to them.

"Out of the way, dumber, smaller Groot." Drax told Groot, making him mad, to where he started punching his arm in annoyance.

"What are you doing? You could have killed us all." Drax questioned accusingly.

"Uh, 'Thank you, Rocket'?" Rocket snarked back as I added,

"Yeah ingrate..."

"We had it under control." Drax protested but Mantis disagreed,

"We did not. That is only an extension of his true self. He will be back soon."

"What's Smurfette doing here!?" Quill questioned seeing Nebula on board as she answered sarcastically,

"Whatever I need to do to get a damn ride home."

"She tried to murder me!" Rocket yelled and she retorted,

"I saved you, you stupid fox."

"He's not a fox." Gamora told her sister.

"I am Groot." Groot stepped in.

"I'm not a raboon either!"

"I am Groot."

"'Raccoon,' whatever!"

"Oh please she's just mad cause she thinks I'm replacing her." I snarked making Nebula face me with an intense look in her eyes,

"You heard all of that?!"

"Yeah but who cares right now we got bigger problems to worry about?!" I pointed out the window as more glowing tentacles rose up from the ground to try to trap the ship

"How do we kill a Celestial?" Drax asked as the ship was being surrounded by more tentacles.

"There's the center to him his brain, his soul, whatever it is, in some sort of protective shell." Quill explained and Mantis added,

"It's in the caverns below the surface."

Quill went up to the cockpit while I stayed close to Rocket to help him with running the weapons when we could hear Yondu and Quill arguing,

"You said you were gonna eat me!"

"That was being funny!"

"Not to me!"

"You people have issues." Rocket told them and Quill yelled,

"Of course I have issues. That's my fricking father!" I looked out the window to see a seriously messed up skeleton monster that was supposed to be Ego as he reformed.

"Thrusters are back up." Quill announced and he drove right through his dad's body.

"Am I glad you take after your mom..." I muttered as I started to flick a few switches.

"No he doesn't." Rocket smirked as the ship nosedived and we all had to hang on to something as we headed down.

"We should be going up!" Yondu pointed out as we were heading straight for the ground before Quill told him,

"We can't. Ego wants to eradicate the universe as we know it. We have to kill him. Rocket!"

"Got it." Rocket was about to deploy the lasers when he turned to me and asked, "Think you can give'em a boost?"

"You know it." I focused and sent a charge of energy straight for the lasers as they carved through the layers of dirt and stone that made up the planet and Rocket directed them with the joystick and levers.

"So, we're saving the galaxy again?" Rocket asked and Quill answered,

"I guess."

"Awesome. We'll really be able to jack up our prices if we're two time-galaxy savers."

"I seriously can't believe that is where your mind goes."

"It was just a random thought, man! I thought we were friends! Of course I care about the planets, and the buildings, and all of the animals on the planets."

"And the people."

"Meh."

"The crabby puppy is so cute he makes me want to die!" Mantis laughed as we managed to break through the last layer of dirt to where some kind of orb center branched out to the rest of the planet.

"There! That's Ego's core." Quill pointed to the center of the planet and the ship was leveled out in front of it.

"That ore's thick. Rocket." Gamora pointed out.

"I got it." Rocket used the joystick to direct all the orbs back together.

"We must hurry. It will not take Ego long to find us." Mantis rushed us.

"Keep it still!" Rocket told Yondu and Quill as the orbs all came back together and they created a single beam that started to pierce through the metal.

"We drill into the center, we kill him."

"What else was the plan?" I told him sarcastically just before we heard Kraglin's voice over the ship's comms,

Cap'n?

"What is it, Kraglin?"

Um, remember that Ayesha chick?

"Yeah, why?"

"Uhh that's why." I pointed out the window at all the golden ships that were flying toward us.

"Aw, hell."

We managed to get away before they blasted the ship to bits but we also dropped several of the others overboard to the ground below.

"Why aren't you firing the laser?!" Quill asked as he and Yondu avoided the blasts from the ships.

"Generator's busted." I took my hands off the walls as I took some of the leftover energy from the destroyed generator.

"I think I packed a small detonator." Rocket dumped out his belt pouches to search for what he needed.

"A detonator is worthless without explosives!" Nebular pointed out right as Rocket found the two Anulax batteries he stole earlier and told her,

"Well we got these!"

"Is it strong enough to kill Ego?" Quill asked as he got down from the cockpit.

"If it is, it will cause a chain reaction throughout his entire nervous system." Rocket explained as he used up all his tape to strap the batteries to the detonator.

"Meaning what?"

"Whole planet goes 'Boooom'." I told him like he was a baby with a small explosion hand motion before rolling my eyes.

"We'll have to get out of here fast. I rigged a timer." Rocket picked up Groot and he and Quill snapped on some Aerorigs while I thumped my heel down to make some orbs come out and form a circular hover platform.

"Go!" The three of us flew out of the hole in the side of the ship and made it through all the lasers from the Sovereign ships to get to the hole we managed to make in it. Rocket turned a flashlight on and looked at the dent we made before saying,

"The metal is too thick! For the bomb to work we'd actually need to place it on Ego's core. And our fat butts ain't gonna fit through those tiny holes."

"Speak for yourselves." I cracked my knuckles before setting a hand on the metal and focusing on electroporting straight to the center. As soon as I felt my disassembled self get to the center, some kind of force repelled me back and I landed on my butt back with Rocket and Quill.

"Any other ideas?" I asked as I painfully got back up and held my shoulder.

"Well..." Quill looked to Groot as he was on the ground playing with a leaf growing out of his shoulder.

"That's a terrible idea." Rocket stated.

"Which is the only kind of idea we got left." Quill made a point.

"And really it usually works out for us... mostly.... sometimes... OK barely..." I pointed out but got more unsure before Rocket picked up Groot and went down the tunnel with him complaining,

"Grrr... unbelievable. 'Rocket, do this. Rocket, do that.'"

"Try not to get yourself killed." I told Quill before he flew out and I went to catch up with Rocket as he was explaining how to use the bomb to Groot,

"All right. First you flick this switch, then this switch. That activates it." Rocket placed down the bomb in front of him as he continued, "Then you push this button, which will give you five minutes to get out of there. Now whatever you do don't push this button, because that will set off the bomb immediately, and we'll all be dead. Now repeat back what I just said."

"I am Groot." Groot nodded to the first switch.

"Uh huh."

"I am Groot." Groot nodded to the second switch.

"That's right."

"I am Groot." He pointed to the Death Button making Rocket exclaim,

"No! That's the button that will kill everyone! Try again."

"Hmm... I am Groot.

"Mmhhmm."

"I am Groot."

"Uh huh."

"I am Groot." I nearly choked trying to hold back my laughs as he pointed to the Death Button again.

"No! That's exactly what you just said! How is that even possible?! Which button is the button you're supposed to push?! Point to it."

"NO!!!" I cracked up at Rocket's panicked shout just as Quill peeked in through a crack in the metal and told him,

"Hey, you're making him nervous!"

"Shut up! And give me some tape! Does anyone have any tape out there!? I wanna put some tape over the Death Button!"

"I don't have any tape. Let me check." Quill flew back out and we could hear him in the background as we waited for him to ask around,

"Yo, Yondu, do you have any ow! Do you have any tape?!" I made a few sparks appear above my fingers as Rocket scratched his neck.

"Owwhuhuowww Gamora, you have any tape? Tape uhh nevermind it's fine."

"Drax! Do you have any tape..."

Rocket coughed and I laughed from hearing Quill's side of the conversation,

"Yeah Scotch tape would work... Then why did you ask me if Scotch tape would work if you don't have any?!"

He reappeared back in the hole before telling us,

"No one has any tape."

"Not a single person has tape?" Rocket questioned.

"Nope."

"Did you ask Nebula?"

"Well yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"I asked Yondu and she was sitting right next to him."

"I knew you were lying!"

"You have priceless batteries and an atomic bomb in your bag! If anybody's gonna have tape it's you!"

I rummaged through my belt pouches as Rocket yelled,

"That's exactly my point! I have to do everything!"

"You are wasting a lot of time!" Quill shouted right before my eyes widened at what I found before we turned to see Groot leap down a hole with the bomb in his arms as he slid down the tunnel shouting,

"Wheeeheheeeee..."

"We're all gonna die..." Rocket spoke disappointed.

"You know what the worst part is? I had tape." I stated as I pulled out the mini black roll I had and Rocket gave me the 'you're gonna die' look.

2165 Words