Galactic Surge

Back to her Roots

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.