We're getting there! Next chapter will be the final chapter! And to a certain Guest reviewer, I accept your apology. Thank you. :)
NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.
Everyone gathered around to hear Gamora and Quill's plan to infiltrate Ronan's ship and retrieve the Infinity Stone.
"The Stone reacts to anything organic," Gamora told the entire crew. "The bigger the target, the bigger the power surge."
"All Ronan's got to do is touch the Stone to the planet's surface and zap!" Quill said. "All plants, animals, Nova Corps..."
"Everything will die."
"So Ronan does not make the surface. Rocket will lead a team to blow a hole in the Dark Aster's starboard hull. Then, our craft and Yondu's will enter."
"Won't there be hundreds of Sakaaran soldiers inside?" Kraglin, Yondu's first mate, asked worriedly.
"I think of Sakaaran as paper people," Drax gruffed.
Kraglin smirked and playfully punched Drax in the arm, which he immediately regretted upon seeing the offended look on the larger man's face.
"Once they know we're on board," Gamora continued, "Ronan will isolate himself behind impenetrable security doors on deck, which I can disable by dismantling the power source."
"We'll make it to the flight deck," Quill smirked, "and I'll use the Hadron Enforcer to kill Ronan."
"Once Ronan is dead, we will retrieve the Stone." As Gamora spoke, a crew member passed out metal orbs to everyone in the room. "Use these devices to contain it. If you touch it, it will kill you."
"I'll contact one of the Nova officers who arrested us. Hopefully, they'll believe we're there to help."
Rocket stepped forward. "There's one more thing we need to complete the plan!" He pointed to a man with long red hair and a mechanical eye. "That guy's eye!"
The poor one-eyed guy looked like he was about to panic.
"No!" Quill shook his head. "No, we don't. No, we don't need that guy's eye."
"No, seriously, I need it!" Rocket insisted but he was giggling. "It's important to me!"
...
"Awwww, come on!" Mikey groaned as he struggled to put on a pair of Ravager pants. His legs were just too large for the tight leather. Even the prison pants back at the Kyln were more comfortable.
Rrrrriiiip!
"Uh-oh." Mikey held out the pants that now had a tear in them. The Ravagers were not gonna be happy about this.
"Sheesh..." He turned to see Rocket standing at the doorway. The raccoon raised an eyebrow at the Turtle. "No wonder you don't wear pants."
Mikey grinned sheepishly and his cheeks blushed. "Heh. Yeah."
"Well, you missed the meeting. Here." Rocket tossed Mikey a metal orb. "If you find the Stone first, put it in that device. 'Cause you know what will happen if you touch it."
A shiver went down Mikey's spine at the memory of the pink girl Carina's demise. "Yeah," he gulped, staring down at the container in thought before he glanced up at Rocket. "Hey, uh, Rocket? You...really think we won't make it out of this one?"
"What, you having second thoughts about this? It's a little too late for that now."
"No, no! It's just...I mean, if this is really it, I just wish I could've seen my brothers once last time, you know? Or at least, told them goodbye."
Rocket looked at Mikey astounded. "You...You mean you're not afraid to die?"
"Of course, I am. In fact, I'm really scared out of my mind right now. I'd be a little less scared if my bros were here with me. We face every danger together, but this time I'm facing it alone."
"Oh. Well, uh..." Rocket awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck as he approached the Turtle. "You're not really alone, kid. I mean, you got us. I know we ain't your family, but...you know." The raccoon was normally not good at comforting, but he tried for Mikey.
And Mikey did appreciate it, as he smiled gratefully at Rocket. "Thanks, Rocket. You know, if you would try to be a little bit nicer and more considerate, you could make more friends."
Rocket smirked and snorted. "I don't do 'nice', kid. That's not who I am."
Mikey suddenly got an idea and smiled mischievously as he stood up. "You know what you need?" He slowly moved towards Rocket and raised his hands. "A good ticklin'."
Rocket stared blankly at him, not sure whether to believe him or not. "You're kiddin', right? 'Cause if you touch me, you die before the fight even begins."
Mikey only grinned even wider and inched forward.
Rocket took a couple of steps back. "Kid, I mean it! Do not touch me! STOP!"
But Mikey lunged at Rocket and pinned him to the floor, tickling his pits.
"NO! STOP IT! STOP-STOP-STOP!" Rocket tried to fight him off but quickly gave in and laughed as he was being tickled like crazy by the Turtle. He laughed so hard that his eyes started to water. "Ha ha ha ha! Stop! Ha ha! Please! Ha ha ha!"
"I Am Groot?"
Mikey stopped tickling Rocket and they both looked up to see Groot standing over them.
"Groot! Thank God...you're here!" Rocket said as he panted, trying to catch his breath. "Get this...ticklin' maniac off me!"
Groot looked directly at Mikey and smiled. The young Turtle immediately understood and pinned Rocket to the floor again.
"Wha-?!" Rocket watched in horror as Groot knelt down and protruded leaves from out of his fingertips. "You TRAITOR! NO!" Both Groot and Mikey proceeded to tickle him all over, and poor Rocket couldn't control his laughter.
They heard heavy footsteps enter the room and froze. A couple of Ravagers stared at them in confusion, and Rocket growled as he pushed Groot and Mikey off and stood back up. "What are you jackasses staring at?" he said to the Ravagers, who quickly left.
Just then the Ravager navigator's voice spoke through the speakers, Ronan's fleet has been spotted and will arrive in t-minus fifteen minutes.
Rocket sighed softly as he straightened his suit and grabbed his big gun. "Well...you guys ready to do this?"
Mikey nodded as Groot helped him up. He followed Groot and Rocket down the halls when he accidentally bumped into a large reddish-pink Ravager who had long dirty hair and beard. His face was severely scarred and ugly and he snarled at Mikey, bearing his rotten teeth.
"Hey, watch it, pipsqueak!" he growled.
"Sorry!" Mikey told the man as he stormed off. Then he mumbled to himself, "Yeesh, that guy was butt-ugly, like someone took a taser to his face or something."
"Why isn't Rocket coming with us?" Mikey asked Quiil as the Milano dropped down from the Ravager's ship. He sat in the very back next to Groot. "Shouldn't we all stick together?"
"He's gonna blast a hole in the Dark Aster so that we can get inside," Quill told him.
Gamora looked at Mikey over her seat. "He'll be fine, Mikey. He may be a rodent, but he's also a very skilled pilot." She sounded so confident that Mikey started to feel slightly more confident, himself. But then he heard her murmur to Quill, "This is a terrible plan." Well, there goes the confidence.
"Hey, you're the one who said you wanted to die among friends," Quill said in a louder voice.
Within minutes, Ronan's warship, the Dark Aster, was in sight. To Mikey, it kind of looked like a bird with two massive wings. Two Ravager ships that were in the front line fired balls of energy, both of which exploded once they collided with the force field that was protecting the Dark Aster. The invisible wall burned with flames and was exposed to the Ravager fleet.
Immediadely all of the M-ships dived under the wall of fire and charged at the Dark Aster from beneath it. Rocket and two other Ravager ships started firing at a particular spot on the warship, but at that moment, hundreds of Sakaaran Necrocrafts appeared and fired at the Ravager fleet.
Once Rocket and the Ravagers had managed to blast a hole in the wall, he yelled at Quill and Yondu to move in. Mikey gripped the arms of his seat and pulled his head into his shell as the Milano zipped past the Necrocrafts and charged at the Dark Aster. Luckily Quill was a very skilled pilot, perhaps the best one Mikey had ever met, but even he couldn't dodge every single blast and the ship got hit a few times.
Yondu's voice came over the transmitter. Aw, hell! I'm going down, Quill! No more games with me, boy! I'll see you at the end of this!
The Milano got hit by another blast and Mikey yelped at the impact. Groot saw how scared he was and reached over to grab his hand.
"There are too many of them, Rocket!" Gamora yelled as the situation was getting more and more grim. "We'll never make it up there!"
Suddenly more ships arrived, but they didn't look like Necrocrafts or Ravager ships. But apparently they were friends as they fired at the Necrocrafts and cleared the way for the Milano.
A man's voice spoke to the crew through the transmitter. Peter Quill, this is Denarian Saal of the Nova Corps. For the record, I advised against trusting you here. Prove me wrong.
"They got my 'dick' message!" Quill exclaimed excitedly. Mikey looked at him from the backseat confused, but he was very relived that the Nova Corps were on their side this time.
The Milano flew straight through the hole that Rocket had blasted in and although everyone else was tense and nervous, Drax was laughing the entire time as though this were a roller ride. Mikey was beginning to wonder if Ronan hit Drax in the head too hard.
Sakaaran soldiers fired their guns at the Milano as it flew in, but Quill fired back and vanquished them all. The ship came to a screeching halt and everyone let out sighs of relief. They made it.
"YES!" Drax pumped his fists in the air and continued to laugh.
Mikey let go of Groot's hand and hugged his stomach as he groaned.
Quill heard him and looked over his seat. "Swallowed your gum again?" he joked, smirking.
The Turtle shook his head before he vomited all over the floor.
...
They left the busted up ship behind and stepped into a very dark and cold room. It was so dark that Mikey couldn't even see his hand in front of him as he waved it.
"I can barely see," Drax grumbled.
"You guys got any flashlights?" Mikey asked Quill and Gamora.
Quill shook his head. "Forgot to bring some."
"So how are we gonna find Ronan and the Stone now?"
Without saying a word, Groot slowly raised his arm and released thousands of glowing particles from his body. They were beautiful and shined brightly like fireflies in the night. They hovered over everyone's heads and lit up the entire room, which was revealed to be a corridor. Mikey dared to catch one and it felt warm and soft in the palm of his hand.
"Wow..." Mikey's eyes sparkled in amazement as he stared at the glowing spore.
"When did you learn to do that?" Drax quietly asked Groot as he looked around him.
"Pretty sure the answer is, 'I Am Groot,'" Quill commented.
Gamora pointed to the path before them. "The flight deck is 300 meters this way."
As everyone followed her down the corridor, Drax spoke softly to the others, "I want you all to know that I am grateful for your acceptance after my blunders."
Mikey looked up at Drax puzzled. "Huh?"
"He's grateful to us for letting him stick around even after he screwed up big," Quill explained to him.
Drax nodded. "It is pleasing to once again have...friends." He looked down at Mikey and gently touched his shoulder. "Michelangelo, I apologize for what I said to you back at the Kyln. I was wrong. You are my friend."
Mikey smiled warmly at him and placed his hand over Drax's, giving it a gentle, loving squeeze.
Drax looked over at Quill. "You, Quill, are my friend."
"Thanks," Quill said.
"This dumb tree, he is my friend," Drax said, obviously referring to Groot.
Groot grunted softly and nodded, taking no offense to Drax calling him "dumb".
Finally, Drax addressed Gamora. "And this green whore, she, too-"
Gamora whipped her head around and yelled furiously at him, "Oh, you must STOP!"
Mikey couldn't help but giggle. At least Drax was trying to be friendly with her, even if it did come out wrong.
Suddenly a figure jumped from out of the shadows and stood before the group. It as a blue-skinned, bald-headed young woman with a robotic left arm. Parts of her face were covered with metal and her cold, dark eyes sent shivers down Mikey's spine.
"Gamora," she hissed, "look at what you have done. You have always been weak, you stupid, traitorous-" Before she could even finish her sentence, she was hit by an energy blast and sent flying backwards into a wall.
Everyone slowly turned to Drax, whose gun was smoking. "Nobody talks to my friends like that," he said.
Gamora flashed him a grateful smile before she turned to the others. "Head to the flight deck. I'll shut down the power to the security doors."
Quill, Groot, Drax, and Mikey continued on their way while Gamora marched toward the blue woman, who was getting back on her feet.
"Who was that lady?" Mikey asked the others as they ran.
"I think that was her sister, Nebula," Quill told him.
Mikey's eyes widened. "Her sister?"
On their way to the flight deck, they were intercepted by a group of Sakaaran soldiers, among which was a Kree mercenary named Korath. He smiled devilishly at Quill. "Star-Lord," he growled.
"What?" Mikey stiffed his laughter. "'Star-Lord'? Are you serious, dude?"
Korath grabbed Quill and threw him to the ground while the Sakaaran soldiers charged at Drax, Mikey, and Groot.
"Aw, yeah!" Mikey cheered as he pulled out his nunchucks and twirled them. "Hero time!" Letting out a battle cry, he charged at the soldiers and used his advanced ninja skills to take them down one by one, sometimes two at a time.
At one point he even kicked a Sakaaran in the gonads. "Sorry, dude!" Mikey said insincerely. "No evil alien babies for you!"
He'd occassionally look over at Groot, who, being the super strong tree creature that he was, simply kicked and threw the soldiers aside. For a gentle giant, he was a total badass in the battlefield.
Mikey turned in time to see Drax pin Korath to a turbine and grabbed a piece of machinery that was connected to Korath's head, slowly pulling it out and causing severe pain to Korath.
"Finger to the throat means death," Drax growled right before he tore out the cybernetic part. Korath's body spasmed a bit from the electric shocks before he dropped to the floor. Drax then turned to Quill. "Metaphor."
Quill paused before he shrugged. "Yeah, sorta." He then noticed another platoon of Sakaaran soldiers heading their way. "Oh, no."
"I got 'em!" Mikey was about to charge straight at them when Groot suddenly blocked his way with one arm.
He extended his other arm into a long vine that completely skewered six of the soldiers and used it as a whip-like weapon to take down the others. Groot roared as he whipped his vine back and forth, up and down, the six Samaarans dangling lifelessly as he worked. Once all of the soldiers were defeated, Groot retracted his arm and looked back at the others, smiling innocently at them.
Mikey stared at Groot with wide eyes and his mouth agape before he spoke slowly, "Dude...that...was...AWESOME!" He ran to Groot with his hand raised. "Yeeeeaah, boiiiii! High-three!"
Groot tilted his head in confusion, not understanding the gesture. "I Am Groot?"
"It's not over yet!" Quill yelled as more Sakaaran soldiers moved in.
Mikey groaned in frustration and rolled his eyes. "How many more of these dudes do we have to fight?!"
The crew fought and blasted their way to the flight deck, but the door still hadn't been opened by Gamora yet. Groot pounded on the door, but even he couldn't punch through it. Quill brought out the Hadron Enforcer and activated it, preparing to use it on Ronan the second they get in.
Finally, the door slid open and two Sakaaran guards were there waiting for them. Just then Gamora blasted her way through the floor and jumped out shooting a guard down. Drax pulled out his knife and killed the other one.
Standing on the deck and facing the window, Ronan the Accuser turned around and glared at the crew. His hammer glowed purple from the power of the Infinity Stone, as did his eyes.
Wasting no time, Quill aimed the Enforcer at Ronan and fired. Ronan didn't even attempt to dodge the bullet and just stood there. The moment the bullet hit him square in the chest, he was seemingly destroyed in an explosion.
The whole room was filled with smoke and everyone stood still.
"You did it!" Drax exclaimed.
Quill, himself, was certain that they had, indeed, won the battle and smirked.
But something didn't feel right to Mikey. Maybe it was because in every action movie he ever saw, the hero would deliver a killing blow to the villain and the audience would be led to believe that the battle was finally over. But then the villain would sudden appear out of nowhere even though it was impossible for him to still be alive.
And sure enough, as the smoke cleared, Ronan stood up and faced the crew once again. Other than the burning spot on his chest where the bullet hit him, there wasn't a single scratch on his body. He aimed his hammer at the group and used the Stone's power to blast them all away with an invisible force.
Drax bounced right back up and charged at Ronan. But the latter merely grabbed him by the throat and slowly choked him to death as he lifted him off the ground.
"I was mistaken," Ronan said in a cold, deep voice. "I do remember your family. Their screams were pitiful. I-" Suddenly, the chain of Mikey's nunchucks wrapped itself around his arm, and he looked over at the Turtle who had a hold on him.
Mikey glared at him and tugged at the chain. "LET HIM GO!" he yelled.
Smiling sadistically, Ronan tossed Drax away like a ragdoll and pulled on the chain, making Mikey fly straight toward him. He knocked down the Turtle when he got close enough and pinned him to the floor by stepping on his shell with one foot.
He then looked directly at Drax. "Now watch as I kill your new family." He slowly applied more force to his foot and Mikey screamed in pain as he felt his shell being cracked in half.
Drax roared in fury and charged at Ronan once again. But before he could reach him, a Ravager ship crashed through the window. Its pilot, Rocket, screamed as he plowed straight into Ronan. Luckily, Mikey wasn't hit by the ship and it missed him by a mere inch. But his shell ached so badly that he could barely move, and he faintly heard the sounds of Rocket's ship crashing.
He felt someone pick him up and carry him. He lifted his head and saw Groot looking down at him worriedly. "Ngh...Groot...my shell really hurts," he whimpered. He looked around him and saw Quill carrying an unconscious Rocket and Gamora dragging Drax up the stairs.
The ship rumbled as debris fell down all around them, which meant that they were going to crash soon.
Mikey clutched onto Groot in fear and looked over at Quill. "Quill? Is...this it?"
Quill said nothing, but the look in his eyes said it all.
This was really the end.
Sighing softly, Mikey closed his eyes and leaned his head against Groot's chest. I'm sorry, bros...April...Casey...Master Splinter. I love you all so much.
But then Groot gently put Mikey down and stretched his arms out to his sides. Branches grew from out of his body and surrounded the whole crew. At first Mikey thought that Groot was pulling them all into one final group hug, but then he noticed that the branches were taking the form of a protective ball.
He finally understood. Groot was going to shield them from the impact of the crash.
But what would happen to Groot?
Soon they were encased in a giant nest, and Groot even grew leaves to provide them with even more protection. He also released some glowing particles so that they wouldn't be in the dark.
Rocket, who had regained consciousness, crawled towards Groot. "No, Groot! You can't!" he begged as he looked up at his friend. "You'll die!"
Mikey's eyes widened in horror.
Die?
No. Nononononono! NO!
"NO!" Mikey scrambled towards Groot and tried to break the branches off his body in a desperate attempt to save him. He couldn't bear to lose another person who was important to him. He just couldn't! "Groot, stop! Please! Don't do this!"
But Groot used vines to gently pull Mikey away and he smiled sadly at his young friend. There was no fear in the tree creature's dark eyes. Only peace.
"W-Why are you doing this?" Rocket's voiced cracked with emotion and his brown eyes brimmed with tears. "Why...?"
Using a vine to gently wipe a tear off Rocket's cheek, Groot looked around at all his friends and spoke three simple yet very powerful words that Mikey would never forget.
"We...Are...Groot."
Groot's smiling face was the last thing Mikey saw before a bright light completely blinded him.
Then there was nothing but silence and darkness.
I got emotional while writing this part... :,(