Another chapter already? I am on a roll! LOL! But I am watching the movie as I'm writing so I'm updating much faster.

NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.

Nova Headquarters

"Excuse me, Nova Prime?"

The commander of the Nova Corps, Irani Rae, was in the middle of a conservation with a green-skinned ambassador on screen when she was approached by two assistants. "What?" she sternly asked. "This better be important."

"Sorry to interrupt you, ma'am," the woman apologized, "but Zayton Honeycutt is here."

This caught the Nova Prime's attention. "Honeycutt? You mean, Fugitoid?"

"Yes, ma'am," the man nodded. "He insists that it's of great importance that you talk with him. Now."

Irani thought about this for a moment before she turned back to the ambassador. "Excuse me, Drey'Nar. It won't be but for a moment."

She followed the assistants into another room, where Fugitoid and the rest of the Ulixes crew sat in chairs. The robot immediately stood up and rushed to greet the Nova commander. "Ah, Nova Prime Irani Rae, it's a pleasure to meet-"

"Fugitoid," she glared at him. "You got a lot of nerve coming here to my headquarters and interrupting my business."

"I-I do apologize-"

"Who did you manage to piss off this time? Huh? Because I'm not cleaning up any more of your messes."

Fugitoid chuckled nervously. "Well, you-you see, ma'am, one of our friends has been wrongfully incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. The fellow goes by the name of Michelangelo."

"Oh, really? We'll see about that." Irani pulled a small tablet from out of her pocket and looked up the name, scrolling down the screen with her finger. "Michelangelo...Michelan-ah, here we go. Hamato Michelangelo. Half Terran, half Turtle mutant. Arrested for attempted robbery on planet Skyria."

"Yes!" Leo stood up from his chair and stood next to Fugitoid. "Yes, that's our brother! Look, he didn't steal anything. This was all a big misunderstanding."

"So what do you want me to do about it?" Irani sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Well, we were hoping that you would authorize his release," Fugitoid said.

"And yet you have no proof of his innocence?"

"Well, um...no, actually."

She shook her head. "Then I'm afraid I can't help you."

Leo stepped forward. "Ma'am, please-"

"Unless," she held up a hand and interrupted him, "you turn in the real culprit or bring me any evidence backing your claim, Michelangelo is to stay where he is."

"WHAT?!" Now Raph was furious and had to be held back by Donnie and April. "How the heck are we supposed to find this guy?!"

"You figure it out," Irani told him before she turned and walked out of the room.

Leo sighed heavily and covered his face with his hand. "Great," he muttered. "Just great."

"So we need to go find this imposter," April said, having finally calmed Raph down. "At least we have a physical description of him from the Skyrians."

"Yeah, he couldn't have gone far," Casey said with some optimism.

Donnie gave him a weird look. "Uh, he can go very far, Jones. We're talking about the entire freaking universe here!"

"Enough," Leo ordered. "We're just wasting time. The sooner we find this guy, the sooner we can get Mikey out of jail. I just hope that he's okay."

I'm an alligator

I'm a mama-papa coming for you

I'm a space invader

"...uh...?" Mikey fluttered his eyelids open as he woke up to what sounded like 70's rock music.

After stretching himself in the nest that Groot made for him, he groggily walked into the common area, where Quill was pretending to shoot with some twin guns, probably out of boredom.

He turned when he heard Mikey entering the room and greeted him with a smirk and nod. "Hey. You get enough sleep?"

"I guess," Mikey yawned as he lifted himself onto the table and sat on the edge. "So I take it you haven't been to Earth in, like, forever."

Quill chuckled softly. "What gave that away?"

"Dude, you're still listening to music with a Walkman. Nobody uses cassettes anymore. We have iTunes now."

"iTunes, huh? Sounds cool. But yeah, it's been 26 years since I was abducted."

Mikey looked back at Quill surprised. "Really? It's been that long? Why haven't you gone back yet? You have your own ship."

There was some sadness in Quill's blue eyes as he looked directly at Mikey. "'Cause there's nothing for me to go back to."

"What do you mean?" Mikey asked him, now curious.

"The day I was taken, my Mom..." Quill pulled the Walkman out of his pocket and gingerly held it like it was a precious gem. "She passed away. She had brain cancer."

Mikey's heart instantly broke for him. "Whoa. I...I'm so sorry, dude."

"She was everything to me," Quill continued in a soft and slightly pained voice. "Without her there, Earth's not my home anymore. Just...another planet, you know? Just one in an infinite number of celestial bodies throughout the universe. So I guess you could say that...I don't really belong anywhere."

Mikey slowly nodded, letting those heavy words sink in. "Must be pretty lonely."

Quill glanced over at him, then slowly nodded. "Yeah. I guess it is."

"But don't you miss all the good stuff about Earth? Like cartoons? Or video games? Or more importantly..." Mikey's blue eyes sparkled as he thought about his most favorite thing in the whole wide world. "...pizza?"

"Pizza?" There was a twinkle in Quill's eyes as the corners of his mouth slow it raised into a grin. "Oh, yeah, pizza. I remember that. How could I forget? We always ordered the supreme pizza, with pretty much everything on top. Sausages, pepperoni, mushrooms, and bacon." He closed his eyes as he reminisced about the latter topping. "Oh, god. I miss eating bacon."

"You know what I like on my pizza?" Mikey grinned. "Pepperoni, jellybean, and maple syrup. And I prefer it to be at least three days old."

Quill stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before he threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, man! You are one weird little dude, you know that?"

Mikey laughed along with him when they heard Rocket calling out to them from the cockpit.

"Heads up! We're inbound!"

Mikey jumped off the table abd followed Quill to the stairs, but quickly stopped him. "Hey, I promise you, after all this is over, I'll get you a supreme pizza, even if I have to make it myself."

Quill smirked and nodded before he went up the stairs leading to the cockpit, where everyone else was waiting.

They were now approaching what appeared to be a planet with about half of it blown off. But as they got closer, they all realized that it wasn't a planet at all.

It looked more like a giant skull.

"What is it?" Drax asked in both awe and fear.

"It's called Knowhere," Gamora said. "The severed head of an ancient celestial being."

Mikey gulped. "Wait. We mean we gotta go inside some dead guy's head? You never mentioned that part!"

"There's nothing inside but a colony," Gamora told him then turned to Rocket. "Be wary headed in, rodent. There are no regulations whatsoever there."

"Well, when you said 'heads up'," Mikey leaned against Rocket's seat, "you weren't kidding."

Knowhere, Mining Colony

It was the biggest and most magnificent colony Mikey had ever seen. When they landed the ship and explored the city, it reminded him so much of downtown Manhattan. Gamora gave the crew a tour and explained the colony's origin to them.

"Hundreds of years ago, the Tivan Group sent workers in to mine the organic matter within the skull. Bone, brain tissue, spinal fluid. All rare resources, highly valued in black markets across the galaxy. It's dangerous and illegal work, suitable only for outlaws."

"Well, Mikey and I come from a planet of outlaws," Quill said as they walked down the street. "Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, John Stamos."

"John Stamos is just an actor, dude," Mikey corrected him.

"It sounds like a place which I would like to visit," Drax said.

Quill nodded. "Yeah, you should."

Just then, a small group of homeless kids ran to the crew, holding out their empty hands.

"Watch your wallets," Quill warned the others, putting his hands into his pockets.

"Excuse me," a small boy in dirty tattered clothes approached Mikey, staring up at him with large pleading eyes. "Can you spare any units?"

The Turtle wanted to help the poor kid and give him a little money, but unfortunately he didn't have any. He shook his head and held his hands up. "Sorry, kid. Don't have any money on me."

A stupid bug kept buzzing around his head and he smacked it on his cheek. He gave the kid a lopsided grin. "But I do have a dead bug on me."

The kid giggled at Mikey's joke, and it gave the Turtle comfort knowing that he was at least able to give the kid a good laugh if not money.

"Get out of here!" Quill yelled to the kids, who then left the crew alone. Mikey saw that Groot had given a little girl a blue flower, which was adorable and heartwarming.

They soon reached a snazzy-looking bar, the Boot of Jemiah, which was apparently where Gamora's famous buyer was.

"Your buyer's in there?" Rocket asked her.

"We are to wait here for his representative," Gamora said.

At that moment, a large bouncer threw a patron out of the bar. "Get outta here!" he yelled in a gruff voice.

"Oh, boy. Don't tell me he's the representative?" Mikey nervously pointed at the bouncer.

"This is no respectable establishment," Drax said outraged. "What do you expect us to do while we wait?"

Less than an hour later, Drax, Groot, and Rocket were cheering along with a crowd of people as their Orloni scrambled across a gambling table, with a larger creature known as the F'saki chasing after each one. The person whose Orloni lasted the longest before it was devoured by the F'saki was the victor.

Mikey stood by and watched with utter revulsion as the poor rat-things were being gobbled up by that F'saki. This was just as bad as dog fights.

Drax's Orloni was the last to be eaten, making him the winner. "My Orloni has won, as I win at all things!" he proudly declared as he picked up his glass of some kind of alcoholic beverage. "Now let's put more of this liquid into our bodies."

Rocket laughed drunkenly as he swung his own glass around, spilling his drink all over the table. "That's the first thing you said that wasn't bat-sh** crazy!"

Having had enough of watching this barbaric game, Mikey made his way through the crowd and to his friends. He pulled at Groot's arm. "Groot, let's get out of here."

Groot looked down at his young reptilian friend. "I Am Groot?"

"This is sick and wrong," Mikey gestured to the gambling table.

Just then an Orloni leapt off the table and straight into Mikey's hands. He could feel the creature's tiny heart pound rapidly against his palm. The poor little thing was scared out of its mind and it desperately ran to Mikey for salvation.

"Hey! Hey, kid!" a bald yellow-skinned man yelled at him from across the table. "That's my Orloni! Put it back on the table!"

Mikey only glared at the man and hugged the Orloni close to his chest. "No way!"

"Come on, kid!" Rocket slapped him on the shoulder. "It's just a dumb Orloni! Ain't nothing special about it!"

The Turtle was absolutely shocked and mortified to be hearing those words coming out of Rocket's mouth. "If you really think that, Rocket," he pointed an accusing finger at him, "then you're no better than the scientists who made you!"

The whole bar seemed to have quieted down and everyone stared at the Turtle and the raccoon.

Rocket began to breathe heavily and his fur puffed up. "What did you say to me, ninja brat?" he hissed as he jabbed his finger into Mikey's plastron.

Mikey instantly realized that it would probably be best not to make a drunken trigger-happy raccoon angry and cleared his throat. "Look, uh, let's just step outside for some fresh air, okay?" he chuckled nervously. "It's a bit smoky in here anyway."

After taking one final gulp of his drink, Drax exhaled and straightened up his pants. "Michelangelo is right. The fun and games are over. We should be focusing on finding Ronan."

"Oh, come on!" Rocket yelled angrily at him. "Is that all you ever think about?! That's always been the problem with your people! Anytime somebody gets on your bad side, you wanna rip their insides out! And you spoil all the fun! You both do! You and that...that freak!"

Mikey felt his heart rip in half the moment Rocket called him a freak.

Drax, on the other hand, was beyond furious and he roughly shoved Mikey aside as he marched right up to Rocket, looming over him. "Oh, well, don't let us 'spoil all the fun'! You want the game to continue? Then get up on that table and take the Orloni's place! It is where you belong anyway!"

Both hurt and infuriated by the implications of Drax's words, Rocket lunged at him with a growl and began to attack him with scratches and bites. The two rolled around on the floor a bit before Drax threw him across the room. The raccoon crashed into a table and all of the glasses fell to the floor and shattered.

Now the crowd began to cheer and rooted for the two to continue the fight. The bouncer moved in and tried to restrain Drax, but the tattooed man lifted him and flung him across the room.

"DRAX, STOP!" Mikey screamed, then turned to Groot. "STOP HIM, GROOT!"

With a determined look on his face, Groot ran to Drax and pinned him to the floor. But Drax pushed him off and shoved him into the gambling table.

Mikey gripped the sides of his head and watched helplessly as the two rolled around on the floor punching each other. "Oh, man..." All this happened because he had to fight for animal rights...and tick off a drunken Rocket.

Drax eventually got the upper hand and started to pound on Groot, who then used his vines to restrain him. But Drax easily ripped them off and was about to attack Groot again when he saw Rocket standing in front of him and aiming a large gun at his face.

Someone suddenly grabbed Drax by the arm and pulled him off Groot.

"STOP IT!" Gamora screamed in his face.

Quill jumped in between Rocket and Drax before the former could fire his weapon. "Whoa! Whoa! What are you doing?!"

"This vermin speaks of affairs he knows nothing about!" Drax shouted as he pointed to Rocket.

"That is true!" Rocket yelled back.

"HE HAS NO RESPECT!" Drax roared.

"THAT IS ALSO TRUE!" Rocket screamed.

Mikey helped Groot off the floor, and the tree rubbed his aching jaw. "You okay, tree-bro?" the Turtle asked him in concern.

"Keep calling me 'vermin', tough guy!" Rocket challenged Drax. "You just wanna laugh at me like everyone else!"

Quill attempted to calm the raging raccoon down. "Rocket, you're drunk. All right? No one's laughing at you."

"He thinks I'm some stupid thing! He does!" He then looked directly at Mikey, who could see his brown eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Well, I didn't ask to get made! I didn't ask to be torn apart and put back together over and over and turned into some..." He inhaled sharply before he spoke again in a cracked voice. "...some little monster!"

"Rocket, no one's calling you a monster," Quill calmly told him.

Rocket pointed to Drax, Gamora, and Mikey in that particular order. "He called me 'vermin'! She called me 'rodent'! And now he's called me...!" He couldn't finish and his lower lip trembled as he came very close to crying. Then his lips curled back into a snarl. "Let's see if you can laugh after five or six good shots to your frickin' face!" He raised the gun again at all three of them now.

Gamora held Drax back as he tried to charge at Rocket once again while Mikey hid behind Groot.

Quill blocked Rocket's view again. "Nononononononono! Four billion units! ROCKET! Come on, man! Hey! Suck it up for one more lousy night and you're rich!"

Rocket slowly lowered his weapon as he considered Quill's words, then he finally relented. "Fine," he mumbled. "But I can't promise when all this is over, I'm not gonna kill every last one of you jerks."

Quill facepalmed. "See?! That's exactly why none of you have any friends!" He turned back to Drax and Gamora. "Five seconds after you meet somebody, you're already trying to kill them!" He then gestured to Groot and Mikey. "I mean, why can't you guys be more like Mikey or-or even Groot?"

But Drax had had enough. "We have traveled halfway across the quadrant," he growled, "and Ronan is no closer to being dead." He shoved Gamora away and marched off in a drunken rage, pushing his way through the crowd.

"Drax!" Quill called after him.

Mikey stepped out from behind Groot. "Drax, wait!"

"Let him go," Gamora told them. "We don't need him."

Groot huffed and even did a "forget him" wave off.

Just then a door slid open and a young pink woman who wore a simple short white dress and pigtails greeted them with a smile and curtesy bow. "Milady Gamora, I'm here to fetch you for my master."

As they all followed her inside, Mikey looked down at Rocket, who was still sulking as he put his gun away. "Rocket? Um, about earlier-"

"Shut up," the raccoon grumbled, and the Turtle did just that, leaving him alone.