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"Siri, tell me something I don't know."

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Rachel's POV: Somewhere in space...

"₌S𝚌ₐ𝚝𝚝ₑᵣₑ𝚍 ᵣᵢₒ𝚝𝘴 𝚋ᵣₒ𝓴ₑ ₒᵤ𝚝 ₒᵥₑᵣ 𝚝𝓱ₑ Kᵣₑₑ ₑᗰ𝐩ᵢᵣₑ, 𝚝ₒ𝚍ₐy 𝐩ᵣₒ𝚝ₑ𝘴𝚝ᵢ𝚗g 𝚝𝓱ₑ ᵣₑ𝚌ₑ𝚗𝚝 𝐩ₑₐ𝚌ₑ 𝚝ᵣₑₐ𝚝y 𝘴ᵢg𝚗ₑ𝚍 𝚋y 𝚝𝓱ₑ Kᵣₑₑ ₑᗰ𝐩ₑᵣₒᵣ ₐ𝚗𝚍 ₓₐ𝚗𝚍ₐᵣ'𝘴 Nₒᵥₐ Pᵣᵢᗰₑ.₌"

I was experimenting with creating more explosives on the table in case we reencountered Sakaaran soldiers. Peter returned from the kitchen with a glass of water for Berett and me. I greatly respect Berett because she is one of the first to have a lasting romantic relationship with Peter, unlike his previous partners. I ignored the news report earlier since it always sounded depressing and negative about everything that is or is not essential to the galaxy. 

Also, romantic relationships aren't my forte nor my field of expertise since there isn't one who would care to think of me as their love interest. Hell, I don't even know how romantic partners work... And yes, maybe I was jealous whenever I saw Peter dating and stuff, but I also get jealous that I never get to be IN one. Why? Because I don't want to be like Peter and Berett, who were known to me as the best couple of idiots that sooner or later, she will get pissed and, most likely, leave the ship as soon as we get to Xandar. 

"Peter, Rachel, you have a call," she presses the call button.

"No, wait, don't!" Peter cried to stop her, but it was too late; Bereet had already sent the call through, and the minute Yondu's voice came from the other side of the holo screen, I turned around to place my left furry arm over my left knee so I could have a better hearing about what was bound to happen: "Quill? Raccoon?" 

"Hey, Yondu," Peter awkwardly turns around to nervously wave. 

While I nodded, I said, "Good morning to you, too, Yondu." I sarcastically salute when I heard him asking about our whereabouts: "I'm here on Morag. Ain't no Orb, ain't no you two." I roll my eyes at this before Peter makes a quick excuse; I give him a death warning glare to ensure he stays where he is and start talking: "Well, we were in the neighborhood. We thought we'd save you the hassle." He mouthed 'Traitor' as I returned it with a sly snicker, "Well, where you two at now, girl?" Yondu questioned eagerly as if he was in such a hurry; it was my turn to do the talking that I sat with my tiny legs dangling over the table: "We're going to- mmph!" 

My muzzle was covered up by Peter's hand as I tried to free myself from him, "We feel 'awful' about this, but I won't tell you that." I gave him a skeptical look, and Yondu began to make his scolding speech once again: "I slaved putting this deal together..." "Slaved?" 

Peter backs me up like an overprotective older brother would, which I find uncomfortable, to begin with, but at the same time, it was not that bad: "Making a few calls is 'slaved'?" "...and now you're gonna rip me off!"  I said, "I know we do not treat each other that way. We are better than that, but you see, Peter-" "We're Ravagers. We got a code," Yondu rants. 

"Yeah, and that code is 'steal from everybody,' " Peter states. 

"When I picked you up from your escape pod, Rachel and you boy, I picked you up on Terra..."  Yondu ranted on.

" 'Picked us up,' " Peter and I mocked simultaneously. "...these boys of mine wanted to eat you two!" 

"Yeah, I was also hungry then, so I wanted to do the same to you, Yondu." I backfired at him while simply smiling at his angry holo screen face. Peter noticed how angry and sassy I was, causing him to laugh at how pissed Yondu was. 

It reminded me of how I met him as a kid whenever I was sassy towards the Ravagers, who would make threatening and rude words about how Peter wasn't their food anymore, and the part that I was just Yondu's pet. Unfortunately, they tricked me into attacking them... let's say they couldn't survive another scratch after that.

Yondu, on the other hand, was still ranting. "They ain't never tasted any Terran nor Raccoon before. I stopped them. You're both alive because of me! I will find you two, I will-" but before he can finish, I plunge my finger into the end call button.

With Yondu and the Ravagers...

Not only had his boy, Peter, betrayed him, but Rachel also had. She always told the truth and would take his side or even Kraglin whenever necessary. However, this deeply broke Yondu's fatherly heart towards them, and he even thought he could count on her. Now everything had changed.

And did Yondu not like changes? At all. Yondu growls with anger, "Put a bounty on them. Forty each. But I want them back alive." Yondu knew Peter had been attached to Rachel since day one; he understood the pain she had endured with the High-Evolutionary's illegal experiments. If he took her back to him as promised, Yondu would lose all trust in Peter and never see him again: "Yeah, Cap," Kraglin agreed. 

Half of the Ravagers agreed, and some, like Horuz, didn't share their point of view on keeping Peter Quill and Rachel alive: "Alive?!" he questioned angrily, "That's what I said." "I told you when you picked those kids up, you should've delivered them like we were hired to do! They were cargo! You have always been soft on them, especially that small pet-"

"You're the only one I'm being soft on!" He pulls back his coat to reveal his Yaka arrow. "Now, don't you worry about them, Quill and the Raccoon. As soon as we get them back here, I'm going to kill them myself," What he said was false; Yondu wouldn't kill Peter or Rachel. He knew about their past (yes, he learned the truth behind Rachel's lie, but he didn't say it, so he let it go). Still, Yondu also knew that if they didn't tell him where they could be, he would be willing to give them hell until they gave up: "What do we need to worry about," Yondu decided to change the subject, "who else out there wants that orb!"

Narrator's POV: Time skip~

Peter Quill had left Berett on the Milano while Rachel Avery Raccoon explored (close to where the Broker is) around Xandar. Since they landed on the planet, she thought buying a berry smoothie was a great way to reward herself for a well-done job. With that in mind, she left for a smoothie stand and stood in line for 4 minutes. She was about to order hers until a Xandarian took her spot. It pissed Rachel off that she asked him to go back in the line where he was, but he shoved her to the floor. With that being said, Rachel jumped on his shoulder, took out her blaster, and pointed it at his forehead: 

"Listen here, you son of a bitch! You skipped the line, and I've been here for 4 minutes now," Not knowing she was getting someone's attention.

Earlier at the fountain...

During his last few hours in Xandar, Rocket grew bored and decided to search for anything related to bounty hunting. However, since there was none, he used his spare time to watch people, but with a twist. He made comments for fun, saying things like, "Xandarians? What a bunch of losers. All of them are in a big hurry for something stupid to nothing." He then turned his attention to a tall blond man on his holo screen and exclaimed, "Look at this guy! Can you believe they call us criminals when he's assaulting us with that haircut?!" 

Rocket continued to comment as he shifted the screen to a tiny child around 3 with a parent holding his small hand. "What is this thing? Look how it thinks it's so cool. It's not cool to get help! Walk by yourself, you little gargoyle." Then, he turned the screen to an older man with red sunglasses as he talked to a young woman. He expressed pure disgust: "Look at Mr. Smiles over here. Where's your wife, older man? What a class-A pervert." 

Rocket laughed at his little narration of everyone walking by, with no shame in insulting or explaining. "Right, Groot? Groot?" Wondering what his best friend was doing, he looked over his shoulder to find him drinking water from the fountain. "Don't drink fountain water, you idiot! That's disgusting!"

Groot shakes his head in denial. 

"Yes, you did! I just saw you doing it! Why are you lying?" Suddenly, Rocket's holo screen begins to beep. "Whoop. Looks like we got one." He holds up the screen to see Peter talking with Bereet. "OK, humie, how bad does someone wanna find you?" When he sees the bounty, Rocket's eyes widen. "Forty thousand units?! Groot, we're going to be rich!" 

But Groot has returned to his previous engagement of drinking the fountain. Rocket sighs and shakes his head at his friend, and he waits for the right moment to capture Peter Quill until he finds out that there is another one with the same price. In Rocket's view, capturing two bounties with the same price is the best prize ever. However, Rocket's plans were interrupted when a nearby commotion flicked up his ears, and he turned around to see someone. 

His eyes widened in shock, and he used his holo screen tablet to enlarge the screen. He felt his heart skip a beat as soon as he was met with another raccoon; Groot turned to Rocket, who put on the volume to eavesdrop on what was going on, "-Listen here, you son of a bitch! You skipped the line, and I've been here for 4 minutes now," This caught his attention, and he leaned on the fountain to continue watching, "Oh hoho! This is gotta be interesting." Rocket smirked when he realized she was a raccoon, just like him. Was he ecstatic? Yes. Did he continue watching? Obviously. 

"Waiting for my turn to order, so it's either you move back to where you belong, or~~~ I can make your worst day come to life.-" Rocket couldn't help but watch how sassy and threateningly hot she was; as Rocket continued to eavesdrop, he noticed that the Xandarian, being confronted by the female raccoon, was getting so agitated and scared that he nodded vigorously. Without hesitation, the Xandarian complied by returning to his position behind the old couple, and Rachel sighed, keeping her blaster, turning to look up at the smoothie vendor. The drama was over; everyone continued with their lives. But not for Rocket.

As Rocket watched in disbelief, he saw a raccoon, like him, effortlessly talking down a Xandarian. He watched as Rachel walked away, her furry tail swishing behind her. Rocket was so shocked that he dropped his tablet. As he picked it up, he noticed something strange about Rachel. Looking at a picture of her, he saw that her eye color was different from his. Instead of entirely black pupils, she had orange eyes that shone like topaz. Suddenly, he realized that she was ordering something, and it was good that she wasn't looking back at him. 

He quickly looked away, only daring to glance in her direction again when Groot took notice of how Rocket got distracted by Rachel's appearance. He smiled softly at him as he heard him say: "Damn, she's hot," He muttered. When he gathered the courage to look back, she was heading the other way, not knowing that she was going to the same water fountain Rocket and Groot were going to.

"I am Groot. (You like her.)~" Groot interrupted his thoughts by teasing him. "I do NOT! I haven't even said anything about her, plus she's part of the bounty and nothing more, no less." Rocket denies it with his rugged persona, but Groot can easily see it; he raises a leaf brow and grins further, "I am Groot. (But you were staring at her; she does mean something to you)." "Whatever. Staring and watching are different things, and they don't mean anything. She's got nice eyes, tho." Rocket whispered the last part, which made his plant friend cross his arms at Rocket, "I am Groot? (Are you sure?)" 

Somehow, Rocket was getting annoyed, "Yeah, I'm 100% sure I DON'T; I repeat, I don't like her!" "I am Groot. (Oh, come on, at least look her up and find out.)" Wasting no time, he does as his friend suggests and picks up the holo screen, still frozen on the page with the girl threatening the Zandarian man a few minutes ago: "OK, fine! I'll look her up..." He swipes it away and finds her on his tablet. It reads 'Rachel Avery Raccoon,' he shows it to Groot, "Are you satisfied yet?" 

"I am Groot. (yes, I am)." "Good. Just don't-" Rocket was cut off when Groot asked, "I am Groot? (Why not talk to her?)" He suggested, making his raccoon friend scoff in disbelief at the suggestion and crossing his arms while still holding the holo screen tablet in his paw: "Have you lost your mind? There's No way that I, Rocket, will not talk to her! We have a bounty to catch, remember?"

"I am Groot. (I didn't lose my mind, Rocket. Just saying that you better watch what you say because 'Rachel' is right across from us)." When Groot said that, Rocket thought he was bluffing, but true to his word, he finally noticed where he was pointing and turned around to see that she was watching them; it caused him to freeze. How? Because she is right across from him, and he does not know why he feels nervous around her: "Crap..." He cursed under his breath.

Now...

Rachel happily drank one berry smoothie while she placed the other one next to her blaster; she had sat on the water fountain to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Zandar. After talking down the Zandarian man from skipping the line, Rachel told Peter over her comlink to meet him at the water fountain nearby so he could easily find her.

That's when she turned to see a tall tree and another Raccoon around the other side of the water fountain. Bickering at one another made her stop drinking her smoothie: 'I wonder what they are bickering about? Yet that guy seems cute--OK, Gotta stop there!'  She exclaims at the last part in her thoughts with her orange eyes staring at the male raccoon and the tall tree man, but mostly the male raccoon, who wore an orange battle suit. 

His face, fur, hips, torso, and tail are like an everyday raccoon, his body subtly different from a regular animal at first glance, making Rachel thankful that her fur can hide her blush: 'I wonder if he would like a berry smoothie, but it's not hard to offer a smoothie, right? I heard it is a kind gesture, and I'm sure it's not romantic. OK, here it goes.' Without thinking straight, Rachel gathered enough courage to walk around the water fountain with her two berry smoothies, heading toward the two males (Groot and Rocket). Who were both watching her, heading towards their way. 

Rocket muttered curses under his breath before Rachel approached him. At first, he thought she would walk past him, but instead, she handed him a berry smoothie and spoke: "Want some berry smoothie?" She smiled up at him; the pair had a short silence while the water fountain made a sound in the background as Rocket studied her for a moment, and before he raised an eyebrow at Rachel, "Uh...why?" He was confused about why she would offer a smoothie drink to him.

"W-Well, you seem to be thirsty, so I thought-" 

" 'You thought you would be generous to hand me something to drink?' Is that what you're going for, sweetheart?" He smirks flirtatiously, "Because it's working." Rachel felt flustered and rolled her orange eyes playfully, not falling for his charm so quickly. "Please, I'm just being polite. Plus, it's just a smoothie, not a love potion." She shrugged, taking a sip from her smoothie. Groot looked back and forth between the two, a mischievous smile on his face.

Her response slightly took aback Rocket and scratched the back of his neck: "T-Thanks. I guess I can't refuse a free drink." He takes the smoothie from her, a slight hint of gratitude in his eyes, and drinks it. Rocket seemed to enjoy the smoothie until a sudden loud groan came from above before Rachel could ask him about his name. Peter called her to help. She nods and leaves without saying a 'see you later' to the male raccoon and tall tree by going after Peter to give him some assistance.

Rachel arrived just in time to leap onto the second floor and began chasing after the green-skinned woman. Meanwhile, Peter grabbed a magnetic red rope and tossed it towards her, tripping her. As the green-skinned woman fell to the ground, Rachel laughed and snatched the Orb with her mouth before quickly escaping towards the Milano. However, she was suddenly hit by something and sent flying to the side.

The Orb flew out of her mouth and rolled away, making Rachel angry and dizzy. It turned out that a male raccoon she just met had attacked her, and as he ran past her, he cast her a worried glance before continuing on his way. Meanwhile, Gamora (the green-skinned woman) managed to fend off Peter's attack and landed a few solid punches on him before drawing her knife.

"This wasn't the plan," she hisses. Before she can bring her knife down onto Peter, Rocket jumps on her so she doesn't harm his bounty, "Put him in the bag! Put him in the bag!" He yells to Groot, referring to Peter; however, his plant friend extends his arms to go and grab Gamora. "No! Not her, him!" Rocket yells, "Learn genders, man." 

Gamora yells and bites down on Rocket's paw. "Biting? That's not fair!" While the two of them struggle, Peter uses this opportunity to get up and run away. He slows down just enough to check on Rachel and pick up the Orb: "You OK?" Peter asks, checking over her to see if she got any as he holds the Orb in his other hand. 

Rachel slightly nods, holding a paw up to her head: "Never ugh, better." "Take it easy!" She heard him say that despite Rocket's efforts to hold her back, Rachel recognized that she was Gamora, Ex-daughter of Thanos and assassin for Ronan. She widens her eyes as she watches her manage to break free, who quickly throws Rocket aside, causing him to collide with a glass wall.

With determination, Gamora picks up a piece of scrap metal and hurls it towards Peter's hand, forcing him to drop the Orb. She then strikes Groot with her sword, swiftly approaching the Orb, not letting anything stand in her way. In her escape, she steps on a poor couple's table without hesitation and jumps off the edge.

Without hesitation, she lands and sprints towards the Orb. Meanwhile, Peter frantically notices that Rachel has vanished from the ground and immediately hands her something. "Rachel?" he inquires, his eyes filled with worry as he searches for her. However, his attention is abruptly drawn to Gamora, chased by his female raccoon friend directly beneath him. Reacting swiftly, he jumps and rolls out of harm's way just as Gamora nearly catches him. "Fool, you should've learned," Gamora taunts him. "Doesn't he ever? Oh, wait, I guess not!" In the meantime, Rachel jumps down and lands firmly on Gamora's back. 

She spots Peter secretly fastening a device to Gamora's thigh and swiftly attempts to grab her. But Rachel jumps off just before Gamora can retaliate, while Peter activates the device, sending Gamora flying into a nearby fountain. On the other hand, Rachel gets up to pull Peter up, "Need a paw?" Rachel grins, "Har Har. Hilarious, Rachel." He sarcastically rolls his eyes, seeing how much fun it is to have an adrenaline rush coursing in her; Peter knows her and can tell that it brings her: "Got the Orb?" He gets up, "Yup." She smiles by climbing onto his shoulder, but before he and Rachel can move one step in, they get trapped in the sack Groot was holding. 

"What the-?" Peter and Rachel get cut off, "Hey-!" The only noises coming out of the sack are muffled, causing Groot to triumph: "Quit smiling, you idiot," Rocket says. "You're supposed to be a professional." Rocket stops and gasps: "Oh boy..."  After he sees Gamora approaching them, her sword in her hand, with an angered look, "Oof. Hey!" he yells before being pushed aside towards Groot, who drops the sack while Gamora attacks him

She cuts both of his arms off; Gamora opens the bag and is met with the face of Peter's blaster. He shoots her, and with Rachel jumping out of his arms, she runs off with her. Rocket opens his gun and aims it at Peter, but he hesitates a bit. One part of him doesn't want to shoot and risk any harm to the female raccoon because she's like him, but another part says that he and Groot will be rich. 

Rocket shook it off before he got ready to shoot, "I live for the simple things. Like how much this is going to hurt," he said with a sly smirk. He takes the shot by sending a bolt of electricity toward Peter and Rachel. "Yeah. Writhe little man." They fall, and Rachel goes rolling to hit the side wall of a bridge; Rocket hears her mewl in pain from the impact, and he frowns while faltering in guilt and confusion. As he gets his mind off of it, he turns to Groot. "It'll grow back, you D'ast idiot; Quit whining." 

A voice booms out from above him. "Subject 89P13, drop your weapon." 

"Oh, crap," Rocket sighs, reluctantly dropping his weapon.

''By the authority of the Nova Corps, you are under arrest for endangerment to life and the destruction of property.'' 

A few feet away, a Nova Corp officer is arresting Peter Quill and Rachel, ''Hey! If it isn't Star-Prince and Cryp.'' He teased them, referring to the past times he had arrested Peter. 

"Star-Lord and Crypto." Peter corrected. 

"Oh, sorry. Lord." The Nova Corp officer teased with a hint of a laugh, who turned to his partner, doing the same thing by holding Rachel's unconscious around the waist, "I picked this guy up a while back for petty theft. He's got a code name." 

Peter just seemed done with whatever shit with the guy name Dey, who wanted to keep talking about. Come on, man. It's a... it's an outlaw name for us.'' He tried defending himself and his partner, who finally woke up from her unconscious and struggles to get out of the Nova Corp officer's grasp, "Unhand me, you assholes!" "Just relax, you guys!'' Dey reassured them. "It's cool to have a code name. It's not that weird." 

In fact, he had been referring to the code names that the Nova Corps use for one another. ''Fascists.'' Peter, Groot, Rocket, Rachel, and an unconscious Gamora get dragged away by the Nova Crops. Leaving the people of Xandar to watch after them with high interest.